I Fear That You'll Fear Me
by Azarath's Raven
Summary: On Raven's 17th birthday, she becomes more powerful than she ever was before. Will she be able to keep her heightened powers under control or will she be forced to leave the titans? BBRae and Robstar
1. Not So Happy Birthday

Disclaimer: The author does not own the Teen Titans. All credits go to the respective creators of the Teen Titans, the most amazing set of characters in the world.

* * *

**I Fear That You'll Fear Me**

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" recited Raven calmly from her place in the air. Two large black claws reached from behind Gizmo and seized his jet pack, completely disassembling it in seconds. As Gizmo fell screaming from the sky, Cyborg took the opportunity to blast him with his sonic cannon, just to make sure he didn't try building anything new. Meanwhile, Starfire pelted Mammoth with a flurry of star bolts as Robin raced around him in circles, wounding a length of rope around him. Beast Boy on the other hand, had morphed into a triceratops and was trying to pop See-more's gargantuan eyeball with his horn before he took off from the ground. That was when Raven came into encounter with Kyd Wykkyd. His dark powers were similar to hers, and if the two of them stood side by side with their dark garb, stoic expressions and similar pale complexions, it would be hard not to mistake them for twins. But inside, they were very different as day and night. As Raven poised to strike, Kyd Wykkyd suddenly opened his own portal and disappeared through it. At first, Raven was stunned. Then she remembered what day it was and felt those all too familiar ominous feelings rising from within her. Seeing her teammates were handling the others fine and sensing her need to meditate and to be alone, she hastily engulfed herself in her dark powers and teleported herself back to her bedroom. Once there, she closed her eyes and levitated off the ground, slowly reciting her mantra over and over again. She knew that meditation was her form of escapism, but at this point, what choice did she have?

The remaining titans returned to the tower in a foul mood. Before Robin and Starfire had restrained him, Mammoth had smashed his great fists onto the street, causing huge slabs of Tarmac to fly into the air, striking some unlucky civilians and injuring them very badly. Feelings of regret coursed through their veins. They should have done better. They had always taken pride in ensuring the civilians' safety on all their missions, but now this. Their perfect record had been smashed. The fact that Kyd Wykkyd had escaped and the fact that Raven had suddenly disappeared partway through the mission further dampened their soaked spirits. Upon arrival at the main room, the four titans simultaneously dispersed to their respective rooms to freshen up. Perhaps some time alone to think was in order here. They were all turning into Raven.

Beast Boy shuffled into the main room with his ears down. Taking a slice of tofu from the fridge, he then slathered it with barbecue sauce and slowly took a bite, the image of a slab Tarmac smashing into an old lady still fresh in his mind. Sure, she shouldn't have been there watching the drama, but it had been the titan's duty to protect her and they had failed. The door behind him slid open and he could hear Cyborg's heavy footsteps followed by lighter, stealthier ones. That would have to be Robin, since Starfire and Raven usually flew everywhere.

"Hey guys…" Beast Boy greeted them sadly without looking up.

Raven opened her eyes and touched down to the ground, clutching her temples. She usually felt better after meditating, but today it was different. She could sense that her teammates had returned, and although she was not next to them, she could clearly feel their emotions from where she was. Guilt. Anger. Frustration. Regret. These negative emotions bounced off the walls of the tower and careened into Raven. She fell to the floor, trying desperately to keep her own emotions and powers under control.

* * *

"Cyborg," began Beast Boy hesitantly as he took a seat next to him on the couch. His friend looked so hurt that he didn't know what to say. "Wanna play some games?"

"I'm not in the mood for it, B." replied Cyborg grumpily staring at the floor. Robin joined them on the couch with a pained expression on his face. As the leader of the titans, he felt responsible for all that happened and blamed himself for not stopping Mammoth earlier. But he would not blame Star. Never would he ever blame Star. In fact, if not for her blinding Mammoth with an enormous star bolt then using her alien strength to wrestle him to the ground, more people would probably have gotten hurt. The doors of the main room slid open again and Starfire came floating in. She wore Raven's characteristic scowl on her pretty face. Despite being the most upbeat member of the titans, she too was feeling lousy. Just then, the door slid open for the third time and the Queen of Crabbiness herself flew in.

"Raven!" cried Beast Boy as he exploded from the couch like confetti from a canon. "Where have you been? How could you have abandoned us? Why did you let Kyd Wykkyd escape?"

"Friend Raven, do you have the blue feeling?" asked Starfire innocently, temporarily cheered to see Raven, crabby looking as she was. Meanwhile, Cyborg grabbed Beast Boy and covered his mouth before he said anything that he might regret for the rest of his life.

"I'm fine." Raven said dully as she poured herself a cup of tea. How she longed to retreat to the safety of her room! But she could not. Not before she told them what she had come to say. "You have the cheer up," she said in her usual monotone.

"Well, we'll cheer up when YOU cheer up!" Beast Boy snapped, having morphed into an electric eel and escaped from Cyborg's grasp.

"I can't until you do." Raven replied shortly. "I sense emotions and am affected by the emotions of those around me. You should know that by now."

"What's in it for us?" yelled Beast Boy still furious that Raven had aborted the mission.

"Don't push it!" she snapped between gritted teeth. "I need to meditate." With that, she teleported herself back to her room and was gone.

"I don't get what's her problem!" exclaimed Beast Boy angrily.

"Beast Boy, you have to start being nicer to Raven." said Robin wearily. He and the other titans were getting very tired of his immaturity and pettiness.

"C'mon y'all! We have to cheer up!" said Cyborg a little more cheerily. "We can't let our emotions bother Raven. Remember, if she loses control over her powers she could easily flatten the whole city." he added a little more seriously.

The same awkward silence settled over the group when they remembered how powerful Raven really was. They had apparently forgotten about it because she always toned her powers down - even when battling villains - so that she wouldn't destroy the city she was trying to save. Ever since she had defeated Trigon, they had gained a new respect for her and her powers, along with a new appreciation towards her for keeping her powers under control the way she did. Just then, Cyborg jumped a little and checked the calendar in his arm.

"It's Raven's birthday today!" he gasped as the others returned his outburst with wide eyes. "We've been so busy with Plasmus, Johnny Rancid and the Hive that we totally forgot!"

"So she's acting weird because we forgot her birthday?" Beast Boy demanded. "And you guys said that I'm immature!" he continued glaring at Cyborg.

"I doubt it." Robin said after a few seconds of thought. "Her last birthday was the day that the world was supposed to end."

"Robin has a point," admitted Cyborg. "She also acted weird on her birthday last year."

"Maybe it's just a Raven thing," suggested Beast Boy. "Maybe she just hates birthdays."

"What if there's another prophecy?" asked Starfire. Suddenly, she let out an ear-piercing screech that reverberated through the whole tower. "What if it's the end of the world?" she cried jumping into the Robin's arms.

"We'll just have ask Raven," he said slowly. At this point, he wasn't really sure what was going on with Raven. None of them were.

* * *

The next morning, everyone was in better spirits. Beast Boy even starting whistling again, though no one actually appreciated it. But the moment Raven entered the room silence reigned.

"Your whistling sounds like a kid trying to talk without his two front teeth." Raven remarked eyeing Beast Boy with a smirk.

"Heh." Beast Boy smiled nervously.

"Um, Raven? You sure you're okay?" asked Robin carefully.

"Why would you think otherwise?" she responded calmly.

"Listen, we know yesterday was your birthday." Cyborg started cautiously. "We were afraid that you'd lose control of your powers if we sprung a surprise party on you…" his voice trailed off as he eyed Raven.

"So?" she asked her eyes never leaving her teapot.

"Raven, is there something that you're not telling us?" asked Robin in an authoritative voice.

"Yes, Raven, we wish to help you!" said Starfire clasping her hands to her chest.

"Leave me alone," she snapped as she prepared to return to her room.

Just then, Beast Boy accidentally dropped his plate. It smashed to smithereens on the floor, startling Raven. Immediately, the entire refrigerator was covered by her dark energy and it vaporized into thin air. Now everyone was truly startled. Sure, they had seen Raven rip things apart, smash things, and melt stuff, but never before had they seen her vaporize things. Starfire began to cry as Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy stared incredulously at Raven. As she headed for the door, Beast Boy hastily jumped in front of her to prevent from leaving. This time the couch vaporized. Raven glared at Beast Boy her eyes seething with pure, concentrated rage. Then in a flash, her face returned to normal and things stopped vaporizing. She looked around and saw her four friends hovering outside the tower, with Starfire holding Robin and Beast Boy holding Cyborg. All four of them wore petrified expressions on their faces.

"Alright Raven," said Robin as Starfire flew him back in. "You owe us an explanation."

"Fine." she snapped as they all gathered around her, waiting with expectant eyes. "Trigon may have left me as a helpless child in hell, but that didn't mean that he intended for me to stay there forever. He wrote a will, willing that on my next birthday after I had destroyed earth, I will be granted greater power and new abilities, that will allow me to effortlessly conquer the universe in Trigon's name. I am his only half demon child, so this allows me to travel to other dimensions that have powerful protective spells to keep out full demons like Trigon. That's why he's given me such great power, which is a great portion of the power that he has himself."

"So yesterday, you became the most powerful superhero on earth?" asked Beast Boy in awe.

"Kind of." Raven said sadly. "But because my body is half mortal, it cannot absorb great amounts of power at once. Bit by bit, I will gradually get stronger and so will my powers."

"Wow." Cyborg said scratching his robotic head. "I'm so glad you're on our side!"

"Whatever." said Raven. "I'm going to my room." And with that, she was gone.

The moment she arrived in the sanctity of her room, Raven looked at floor, tears clouding her eyes. Now that her powers were getting stronger, she would have to work even harder to keep them under control. But that was not the reason why she was crying. She had always dreaded the day that her friends feared her. She always knew it was coming, but she didn't expect it to happen so soon. The image of their terrified faces staring at her was burned deeply into her mind. She didn't mind it if she had to meditate longer. She didn't mind it if she had to be even more emotionless than before. But what she did mind was having her friends fear her. She did mind seeing them shrink away from her though she didn't blame them for being afraid. And she blamed him for it. If Beast Boy hadn't dropped his plate, if he hadn't jumped in front of her, none of them would be afraid of her right now. She sat on her bed wearily staring around her dark room. A statue had already been vaporized. Knowing that she must get her emotions under control, she crawled under the covers, a very sad and lonely teenage girl.


	2. New Powers

Raven spent the next few weeks desperately trying to keep her powers under control. With every passing day, her existing powers grew stronger and every few days, she gained new abilities. She gradually became afraid of going on missions because she was afraid that she might uncover a new ability during the battle and endanger the city. So far, besides being able to vaporize things, she was now able to fire bolts of dark energy that behaved like lightning, short-circuiting all electrical devices around her. Cyborg understandably made sure to stay very far away from her until she had mastered further control over this power, further isolating her from the team.

Raven also gained the ability of psychic creation, allowing her to create anything she wished with her mind. On top of that, she was granted physical imperviousness. Since she was half-mortal, she could not inherit immortality from Trigon. Instead, she received a lessor form of immortality, namely physical imperviousness. That was all of her new abilities that the titans knew about. But Raven knew that more would be coming. None of her friends understood the true implication of her words "great portion of the power that he has himself." In actual fact, not only would Raven eventually inherit most of Trigon's powers and abilities; she would also become the most powerful force in the whole universe, next to Trigon. She would not inherit all of his abilities though, since some of his powers only applied to full-demons.

As Raven continued studying her books on demonology, she found that certain spells strengthened certain abilities. These spells had the same effect as "Azarath Metrion Zinthos" had on her existing powers. But as Raven's existing powers became stronger, she became afraid to repeat her usual incantation because it made her too powerful and she did not want her friends to fear her even more than they already did.

Raven's existing power of telekinesis also became more advanced. This meant that not only could she pick up huge objects with her powers, she could also alter them as she tossed them at villains. Adonis found out the hard way what messing with Raven meant. When he flirted with her and called her a "pretty bird", a furious Raven picked up a car with her dark powers, morphed it into a huge mechanical snapping turtle and hurled it at Adonis. The titans had a good laugh as the turtle chased Adonis down the beach, snapping it him with its massive jaws.

As Raven became more and more powerful, she began to fear that the increased portion of dark powers that she now had would corrupt her. In the past, the evil within her was balanced with her good, half-mortal self. With Azar's help, she was able to suppress her inner evil and ultimately behave like a good person despite it. But since her heightened powers came from an evil source, the amount of evil within her grew along with her dark powers. Raven knew that a day would come when she would be unable to suppress her evil side. Just like Trigon had intended, she would become primarily evil when her evil side overpowered her good side. Realizing her predicament, Raven knew that she would eventually have to leave the titans when her evil side overpowered her good side. Already, she was having difficulty suppressing it with meditation. Not wanting her friends to think that she was selling them out like Terra when she became evil, she decided to be upfront and tell them that she would eventually have to leave them.

* * *

"Must you leave?" asked a tearful Starfire helplessly.

"Not now, but eventually." Raven replied in a calm voice. Even Robin was becoming emotional. Just when they thought that Raven had dealt away with Trigon for good, he was coming back to haunt her. Though he had been destroyed, his power was to live on forever through her.

"Can't ya meditate more or somethin'?" suggested Cyborg hopefully. He too was devastated at the thought of losing Raven. They had become close over the years and the thought of losing such a loyal friend deeply pained him.

"There will come a time when meditation won't work anymore." Said Raven quietly. "With every passing day, my powers will increase. The Monks of Azarath taught me how to control my powers and suppress the evil within me then. But now that Azarath has been destroyed and no one has survived, I have no hope."

"Are you certain that no one survived?" asked Robin, who always paid close attention to tiny details.

"Yes. Trigon made sure to destroy them all for helping me to resist his influence." Raven replied sadly, as several tears slid down her cheeks. Quickly, she tried to compose herself.

"Rae…" said Beast Boy softly before giving her a hug. "Don't worry, we'll find a way around this just like we did with Slade and Trigon."

Immediately, the huge table they were sitting at vaporized. With a yelp, Beast Boy backed away from her. Not wanting to scare her friends anymore, Raven teleported herself out of the main room at breakneck speed.

* * *

Back at her room, Raven kept studying, trying to push all other thoughts out of her head. She knew she had to find someone to teach her how to control her powers, but the only ones she could go to were demons. Trigon was the most powerful demon in the universe, but many other lessor demons did exist. Most of them only had one or at the most three abilities. Raven knew that by going to individual demons, she could learn how to control her abilities one by one. However, she refused to do that because she knew that those demons could manipulate and corrupt her with their dark magic and spells.

Unwilling to risk such moral corruption, Raven tried searching for other dimensions like Azarath where the pure-hearted would teach her how to control her powers. So far, every effort was met with failure. The citizens of those dimensions either rejected her because of her heritage, or knew too little about demonology to actually help her. How she longed for Azarath and for Azar and for the other monks that had taught her so much.

After a lot of contemplation, she remembered that when Azar died, she was said to have entered another plane of existence. Raven realized that if she could somehow locate this plane of existence, she would be able to find Azar, who could help her. With this knowledge in mind, Raven desperately pored through her books on the various planes of existence; trying to figure out which one Azar went to after her death.

* * *

The other titans were becoming worried about Raven. Though her increasing powers meant that they were now defeating villains more easily than they ever did before, they were worried about how she now spent all her time holed up in her room. She was becoming increasingly distant and they all knew it was because of what was hanging over all their heads. If Raven could not find a way to suppress her demonic urges and fight the evil within her, she could turn into the next Trigon. If that happened she would turn against the team and possibly destroy the world. It pained them to think that if something were not done, they would one day have to fight Raven, their friend. Knowing that something must be done to help Raven, Robin called Beast Boy, Cyborg and Starfire together for a meeting.

"We need to help Raven. We cannot let her suffer alone." Robin said pounding his fist on the table in frustration. "Yet we know so little about her and her powers."

"Why won't she let us help her?" asked Beast Boy, who looked decidedly unhappy.

"She doesn't want to drag us into this. She doesn't want us to suffer with her. Remember what she did on the day Trigon came? She tried to make our supposed last day on earth enjoyable, even though she was suffering so much herself." Robin replied, clearly flustered and distressed. He wanted so badly to help Raven, yet he did not know how. And nothing made Robin unhappier than not knowing how to solve a problem.

Beast Boy was quite silent and thoughtful, which was rather unusual for him. He sat quietly and listened as Robin and Cyborg brainstormed on how to help Raven. He hated the thought of Raven leaving. He hated the thought of Raven becoming evil. He had always somehow taken for granted that she would always remain as their super mature friend and advisor. But now there was a very high chance that the titans would lose her.

Beast Boy loathed Trigon from the bottom of his heart, though a small part of him was grateful to Trigon. While he hated Trigon for using Raven as his minion and slave, he also felt grateful to him for giving Raven her powers and her life. Without him, Raven would not exist. Without her powers, she would never have become a titan. Without him, she would never have fled to earth where he could meet her. And although Trigon was the root source of all the evil that he despised, he did feel grateful to Trigon for that. Beast Boy never told anyone, but he had a crush on Raven the day he met her - though his feelings for Terra did complicate things. She was so mysterious, so beautiful and so different. He loved watching her fluid, graceful movements and was fascinated by her vast knowledge of things that he could never hope to understand. He loved her soulful violet eyes, her silky violet hair and perfect body. Her hourglass figure and full chest simply made him shudder. Her silky hair was also the reason why he named the mutant moth larvae that he smuggled back to the tower 'Silkie'. Beast Boy could fantasize about Raven all day if Cyborg had not yelled, "Boo ya!" into his ear. With a yelp, Beast Boy leapt several feet into the air. As he landed on the ground in a very undignified manner, he looked up and was shocked to see Raven in the main room. She had a twinkle in her eye that he had not seen for a long time. Delighted, he jumped up and gave her a big hug.

"Raven!" he gushed affectionately as she desperately tried to wriggle out of his grasp. "You've come out of your room!"

"Yes, I have." She gasped as Robin used his staff to pry them apart. Poor Raven could barely catch her breath before Starfire engulfed her in an even stronger hug. "Let go!" she choked as her pale face became even paler. After Starfire let her go with a lot of begging from Robin, Raven leaned against Cyborg's huge metallic frame for support. "Robin," she wheezed between big gulps of air. "I need you to train me."

"Train you for what?" Robin asked curiously.

"Martial arts, gymnastics and anything physical." She replied finally catching her breath. "I've found Azar's plane of existence!" She continued with a cheer in her voice they had not heard for a long time.

"You found Azar?" cried Beast Boy as he lunged for her again, only to be tripped by Robin.

"Yes." Raven replied with a rare smile. "And that's why I need Robin to train me. I need to be in great physical shape, or else I won't survive the journey there. I am after all, half-mortal."

"How will ya get there?" asked Cyborg curiously.

"With my soul self." She replied simply. "Now that my powers are stronger, so is my soul self. Because of that, I can now travel to other planes of existence."

"That's great!" grinned Robin cheerily. He was relieved that the titans now had a way to help Raven.

* * *

For the next few days, Raven was put on a strict regime, which included sparring with Robin, lifting weights with Starfire, chasing after Beast Boy as a cheetah and running marathons with Cyborg. It took another few weeks of training before Raven finally decided that she was fit enough to make the journey to find Azar.

"I'm here to say goodbye." She announced one day as she entered the main room. This took all the titans by surprise, though it really should not have. They all knew that she would be leaving soon.

"You-you-you're leaving already?" sputtered Beast Boy as he choked on his drink.

"I'm becoming more powerful every day." She replied in a more serious tone. "I don't have much time left."

"Where are your bags?" he demanded trying to delay her departure as long as he could.

"Have you forgotten that I can create anything I want now?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, yeah." He replied, blushing at his own idiocy.

"We're going to miss you, Raven." Said Robin as he walked over to her. Was he ever glad that he was wearing a mask to cover his eyes!

"Oh, Raven! Do be safe!" cried Starfire, who would have given Raven another rib crushing hug if Robin had not stopped her.

"Cya Raven." Said Cyborg giving her an encouraging smile. "Be safe." Remembering those words that she herself once used, Raven smiled. Beast Boy wanted to kick himself for not saying those words first!

"Bye Raven." He said shyly. "I'm gonna miss you." The sad look in her eyes practically crushed him. He hated seeing Raven unhappy.

"You'll always have a place on this team." Robin pledged. The others nodded in agreement. "Don't worry, we won't replace you." Raven nodded in relief. Though she knew that they were sort of afraid of her, it comforted her to think that they still wanted her around. Wordlessly, she levitated into the air and assumed the lotus position.

"Goodbye, my friends. You be safe too." She said as she closed her eyes. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos," she recited as her soul self enveloped her and all they could see was her black Raven.

"Bye Raven!" they chorused as the raven lingered in the main room for several seconds, before flying out of the tower and disappearing from view. A deep feeling of emptiness settled upon them and they realized that it was probably here to stay for a long time. Silently, they each returned to their respective rooms, mourning their loss.


	3. Titans In Trouble

The team only realized how complacent they had been upon Raven's departure. With her on their side, they had defeated villains so easily that their skills had digressed. Now, even mediocre villains like Billy Numerous gave them a lot of trouble. It took them several hours to take Billy down. With Raven, it only took minutes. Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Robin put himself and the entire team on the same regime that Raven had undergone. But no amount of training could prepare them for what was to come.

* * *

"Drop the money and surrender. You have no place to run!" yelled Robin as Kitten stood outside of a bank, clutching a huge duffle bag of cash.

"Why should I be scared of you, Robbie-poo?" she screeched in her truly obnoxious voice. "Where is your witch friend? Without her, you titans are nothing!"

"She is not a witch!" screamed Beast Boy defensively.

"Calm down!" growled Cyborg into Beast Boy's twitching ear. Ever since Raven left, Beast Boy had become very touchy about her.

"Titans, go!" yelled Robin as he charged at Kitten with his staff. Kitten immediately raced to her getaway car and sped of. The chase was on. Cyborg jumped into the T-car and Robin dashed to his R-cycle as Starfire and Beast Boy took to the skies. They chased her for several streets before Robin noticed something familiar and foreboding ducking into an alley. Skidding into it, Robin took out his communicator. "Titans, I just found something here. Think you can handle Kitten?"

"You got it!" replied Cyborg as he flashed Robin a smile. Nodding, Robin put away his communicator and dismounted his bike. Boldly, he made his way to the piece of metal on the ground. He only had to take one look at it before he felt his blood chill within his veins. Robin looked around his senses on high alert, but he was completely alone. Taking the piece of metal, Robin climbed back onto his R-cycle and raced back to the tower, his heart pounding within him.

* * *

The remaining three titans defeated Kitten relatively easily. She was after all an obnoxious girl with no powers. Cheerfully, the others made their way back to the tower only to find Robin, sitting at the huge computer in the main room, depressed and deeply in thought.

"Robin?" asked Starfire as she placed one hand on his trembling shoulder. Just then, Cyborg caught side of a part of an orange mask lying next to him.

"Is that?" he caught his breath not wanting to hear the answer.

"It's Slade." Replied Robin, putting his head in his hands. How Slade could be more immortal than Trigon - a being that was the living manifestation of all things evil – was beyond him. "Why do things have to be this way?" cried Robin, who was so tired of fighting Slade that he wanted him dead more than ever.

"Easy, man." Said Cyborg as he walked over to Robin after he and Beast Boy had recovered from the shock. "We don't know for sure if Slade is actually back or not."

"He most certainly is!" Their stoic and determined leader was now sobbing in despair. "He knows that we're weak without Raven and he knows he has to strike when we're at our weakest!" For the first time, the team truly realized their vulnerability and truly realized how valuable Raven was to the team.

"We're just gonna hafta make the best of what we have." Said Cyborg, who for once was more stoic than Robin. He was about to turn around to ask Raven to do a psychic scan of the city when he realized that she was not there. Hanging his head, Cyborg made his way to the TV and started monitoring all their surveillance cameras. A heavy gloom settled upon the group once more. Slade was back and the team was weak. Things certainly were not looking good for the titans.

After his initial outburst, Robin immediately got to work at finding Slade. He knew that Slade would act quickly since he did not know when Raven would return. But he only knew that much. Rigorous patrols around the city yielded nothing but more proof that Slade was back. So far, each member of the team had collected one Slade mask. They all found the masks in the same way Robin found his. It almost seemed as though Slade had been following them before leaving them a little token. This greatly unnerved them so much so that for days, no one slept soundly.

* * *

A week after Robin found the first Slade mask, an army of Sladebots began attacking an oilrig in the middle of the ocean. The four titans were about to race off when Cyborg stopped them.

"T-Car or T-Ship?" He asked turning to Robin. Now, this was a dilemma that the team had never faced before. Whenever they had to go on missions so far away from the tower, Raven usually teleported them there in seconds. Now they would either have to drive there or fly there.

"_Which is better?_" Robin asked himself as he weighed the options. Both the T-Car and the T-Ship would take them there and both could stop or land on water. "Let's take the T-Car." Robin suggested. "We can't exactly man the T-Ship properly without Raven."

"T-Car it is!" Yelled Cyborg as he grabbed the keys. With that, the titans set off.

"Only another fifty miles to go!" called Cyborg from the driver's seat. Robin rode shotgun while Starfire and Beast Boy had the back seats. Just then, the president's face flashed onto the computer in the T-Car.

"Titans! Those robots are demolishing that oilrig! We could lose millions of barrels of oil and not to mention it'll take us months and millions to repair it! What's holding you up?" The flustered president was practically screaming.

"We'll be there!" Replied Robin confidently as he cast a sideways glance at Cyborg.

"You should've been there a long time ago!" The president replied exasperatedly.

"We'll be there!" repeated Robin, who was now becoming equally exasperated.

"I should've known that the titans would be weak without Raven…" The president's voice trailed off before he signed off. The T-Car's cab became deafeningly quiet as the other mulled over his words. It was true that they were weaker without her and inconvenienced transportation wise.

* * *

"I hope she comes back quickly." Said Beast Boy breaking the silence as the crumbling oilrig overrun with Sladebots came into view. "Let's do this for Raven." He suggested.

"For Raven." Cyborg echoed solemnly.

"For Raven." Repeated Robin and Starfire in unison. As Cyborg screeched to a stop, the four titans dashed out and began attacking the Sladebots with vigor. Cyborg grabbed two Sladebots and bashed their heads together. Meanwhile, Beast Boy turned into a T-Rex and smashed more Sladebots into walls with his massive tail. As Robin kicked two Sladebots into the sea, Starfire used her alien strength to wield a huge slab of steel like a baseball bat. Robin had warned her and Cyborg not to use their star bolts or sonic cannon lest they ignite the oil. As Robin punched out another Sladebot, he heard his communicator beeping. Checking it, he realized that another oilrig at another part of the ocean was under attack. As Robin ducked to avoid being kicked by a Sladebot, he began trying to figure out a course of action. Returning a punch of his own, Robin called the Titans East.

"Bumblebee!" He yelled as he exchanged blows with the Sladebot. To his shock, Bumblebee too was fighting a Sladebot. "What's going on?" He demanded as Bumblebee zapped a Sladebot, short-circuiting it.

"These robots are trying to destroy oil wells on land!" She yelled. "What do ya want?"

"Never mind. We'll handle it." Robin decided as he signed off and gave the Sladebot a flying sidekick. Using his staff, he thwacked and kicked his way through a dozen Sladebots. "Starfire!" He screamed as he steadily progressed toward her with a flurry of punches and kicks. He knew that at this rate, there was a high chance that the oilrigs might be destroyed. Robin decided to pair up Cyborg and Beast Boy and himself with Starfire. That way, if something happened, the one who could fly could help the other who could not.

"Yes?" Starfire asked as she spun around a huge bar of steel, sending Sladebots flying in all directions.

"You're coming with me to the other oil rig that's under attack!" Robin yelled as he jabbed at a Sladebot with his staff. "And we're taking the T-Car, just in case you get injured and can't fly."

"What?" Cyborg yelled as he wrestled with a Sladebot. "Nobody drives my baby but me!"

"Just listen to me!" Robin yelled as he desperately fended off attacks from several Sladebots. They were coming in throngs but Robin had no idea from where.

"No!" Cyborg retorted crushing a Sladebot's head with his large hands. "The T-Car is my baby!"

"Fine!" Robin hollered as he ducked and rolled. He knew that time was running out and that the president was progressively losing faith in the titans. "You take the T-Car and bring Star there!" Hastily, Cyborg raced back to where he left the T-car only to step back in horror. Starfire tossed another Sladebot into the ocean and stopped to look.

"My baby!" Cried Cyborg as the T-Car sank beneath the waves. "They sank my baby!" He howled falling to his knees.

"Star!" Robin yelled as he raced towards her, twisting and tumbling out of the grasps of the Sladebots that were pursuing him. "Fly us there!" He continued holding out his hand to her. Landing one final blow on the Sladebot she was battling, Starfire took Robin's hand and took to the skies. As she began to fly him to the other oilrig at breakneck speed, Robin called Cyborg. "Cyborg!" He commanded. "Get yourself together! Beast Boy needs your help!" Realizing the truth in Robin's words, Cyborg stood up and delivered a crushing blow on the nearest Sladebot.

"Ya dare sink my baby?" He roared as he pummeled the Sladebot. "Just watch me sink ya!" With that, he landed a blow so hard that the Sladebot landed several hundred meters away. Beast Boy and Cyborg then joined forces. Changing into a lion, Beast Boy charged at the Sladebots and steered them towards Cyborg who then dealt out furious blows on their metal bodies.

* * *

Meanwhile, Starfire flew Robin to the other oilrig at top speed. As the endless sea whizzed past below them, Robin's mind was hard at work. Slade was attacking all the country's sources of oil probably to starve the country of oil. Since oil powered everything in the city from generators to vehicles, Slade was probably trying to gain control of the city by controlling the city's oil supplies. As the next oilrig came into view in a distance, Robin and Starfire were shocked to see a huge fireball. Starfire flew even faster and when she had arrived within the proximity of the oilrig, hovered in the air. The pair watched the rig burn and searched anxiously for any sign of the Sladebots.

"They're gone." said Starfire as Robin's communicator beeped.

"Great!" exclaimed Robin sarcastically as another oilrig in another part of the ocean came under attack. "Star! Get us there!" he ordered.

"But Robin, no matter how fast I do the flying we may not reach there in time." protested the alien girl.

"Just go!" He snapped forgetting that she was the one holding him in the air. Wordlessly, Starfire headed off to the location of the next oilrig.

* * *

Back at the first oilrig, Cyborg and Beast Boy were battling the Sladebots furiously. They swamped the entire rig and weakened by the loss of Robin and Starfire, the remaining two titans found the going increasingly hard. Both of them were completely surrounded. As Beast Boy rapidly morphed into different animals trying to gain the upper hand, Cyborg struggled without the aid of his sonic cannon. As he did not want to blow up the entire rig, he had to rely solely on his robotic strength and since his mechanical parts meant that he did not have Robin's agility, he was finding it increasingly difficult to land punches. The titans had succeeded initially because there were four of them fighting alongside each other. With Robin and Starfire gone, the ratio of Sladebots to titans had increased.

As Cyborg did the math, he realized that they had a very slim chance of winning. In fact, the Sladebots were winning. As Cyborg tried to take out a Sladebot with a chainsaw from his arm, Beast Boy morphed into a gorilla and began using his immense strength against the Sladebots. Suddenly, a huge piece of flying metal came streaking towards him. Beast Boy turned and saw the shrapnel at the last moment but it was too late. It hit him squarely on the forehead, knocking him out and causing him to morph back into his human form. As Beast Boy collapsed, the Sladebots pounced on him, raining blows all over his body. Hearing Beast Boy's cry, Cyborg turned around and saw his friend being viciously attacked. Cyborg did not even stop to think about the risks. He knew Beast Boy was worth it. With his sonic cannon, he gave the Sladebots that were attacking his green friend everything he had.

Having destroyed them, Cyborg raced to Beast Boy's side and picked him up. Already, a huge bruise was appearing on his forehead. Cyborg held on to Beast Boy with one arm and used the other to climb to the top of the tower on the oilrig. Sladebots followed them in hot pursuit but Cyborg punched and kicked them away.

Once on top, he did some rewiring with one hand, held on to Beast Boy with the other and used his legs to fend off attacks from Sladebots who were climbing up after them. This job took all of Cyborg's focus and concentration, but after several intense minutes, he was done. With the makeshift jet propeller he had created out of whichever parts he could spare from his metallic frame, Cyborg blasted off from the tower, having connected the propeller on his back to his power cell. As Cyborg and Beast Boy flew through the air, Cyborg did a systems check and realized that he did not have enough power to get them all the way back to the tower. Panicking, he called Robin.

"Robin! BB got injured so I got us out of there using a jet propeller but I don't have enough power to get us to the tower. Heck! I don't even have enough power to get us out of the ocean and over the land!" he yelled into his arm. Beads of sweat stood in Robin's forehead as he checked Cyborg's coordinates with Starfire's communicator and realized that there were no islands near them.

"The closest land to you right now is Iron City. Can you divert course to go there?" asked Robin.

"I used up so much power fighting the Sladebots I don't even have enough power to get there." Cyborg replied, desperation in his one human eye.

"Starfire, drop me off at the oil rig and go help Cyborg and Beast Boy." Said Robin firmly, knowing that as the leader of the team, he had to make a sacrifice.

"I cannot simply leave you all alone!" she insisted.

"You have to. Beast Boy is unconscious and Cyborg doesn't have enough power to get to land. If you don't help them, both of them will drown!"

"But surely you will not fight an entire army of Sladebots by yourself!" She protested again.

"I have to. I must stop Slade." He said shortly. With tears in her eyes, Starfire dropped Robin off at the oilrig teaming with Sladebots and left to help Cyborg and Beast Boy. It truly broke her heart to have to leave Robin to fight alone, but she knew that Cyborg and Beast Boy were in a life or death situation.

* * *

"Star! Can you hear me?" She heard Cyborg's calm voice on her communicator.

"Yes." She replied. "I am coming as fast as I can!"

"Hurry. I'm shutting down other parts of my system to power the propeller." He replied in a monotone voice that sounded like Raven's. Starfire surged through the air once she heard his voice. She definitely did not want a repeat of the Max-7 incident.

* * *

Back at the oilrig, Robin was bravely fighting a one-man show against the Sladebots. He refused to give up or give in; yet deep in his heart he doubted his abilities to win this battle. It was just one of him against an army of them and not having the assurance that Starfire could fly him to safety made him rather uneasy. There was no retreating for him now. As Robin desperately fended of blows from the Sladebots, he suddenly felt his legs become weak. With a groan, he crumpled to the ground.


	4. The Titans Lose Robin

Robin blinked several times and opened his eyes. He was in an unfamiliar room that resembled a prison cell. He tried to move his arms and legs only to find that he was completely paralyzed and strapped to a bed. A lone light bulb illuminated the dark room and from the shadows, a tall figure emerged.

"Oh, hello, Robin." Said Slade casually.

"Slade." Growled Robin. "What do you want with me?"

"I want to see you suffer." Slade replied as he walked in circles around Robin. "My Sladebots have intercepted your sweet little girlfriend. Would you like to hear her last words?"

"No!" screamed Robin at the top of his lungs. "You won't touch her! Not if I have anything to do with it!"

"What can you do, Robin?" asked Slade cocking his head to one side. "You are completely paralyzed." Gritting his teeth, Robin tried to move again but found it impossible.

"How did you do this?" he growled.

"I should've known that you'd be as impatient as always." Slade replied coolly.

"I am not going to let you blackmail me into becoming your apprentice again!" Robin cut in.

"Don't jump to conclusions." Slade replied. "I'm not going to force you to be my apprentice. Instead, I will make sure you suffer for failing me as an apprentice." With that, he was gone even before Robin could open his mouth.

* * *

As Slade was talking to Robin, Starfire was flying to Cyborg and Beast Boy as quickly as she could. She was about to reach them when five Sladebots in an airship came careening towards her. With a scream, Starfire ducked out of the way. As the airship circled over her head, she began firing her star bolts in all directions. In retaliation, the Sladebots rained explosives down on her.

Suddenly, several Sladebots jumped from the airship and pushed her out of the sky. With another scream, Starfire plummeted down before striking the surface of the water with an enormous splash. Shrieking angrily, she burst from the water's surface and headed for the airship. Flying skillfully around the explosives that were aimed at her, she reached the airship. Using her alien strength, she began pushing down on it. As the airship lost altitude, the Sladebots clambered onto its roof to face her. In the corner of her eye, Starfire saw Cyborg and Beast Boy flying haphazardly towards her in a distance. Knowing that they were counting on her, she looked up and blasted the Sladebots with her eyes as she kept pushing the airship down. However, she was outnumbered five to one and one lucky Sladebot managed to get in a kick that caused her to let go of the airship. With a scream, she tumbled backwards before lunging at the airship again. Hurling blasts of star bolts at the airship, she flew below it and punched out the engine. Thankfully, she had remembered that Robin had prevented the Centauri police from leaving with her by taking out their engine. Flying to the other side, she took out the other engine and watched with a pleased smile as the airship crashed into the ocean with a magnificent splash. But her smile quickly evaporated when she heard a huge splash. Turning around, she realized that Cyborg and Beast Boy were no longer in the sky.

"Cyborg! Beast Boy!" she yelled before streaking to the place where she heard the splash. Taking a deep breath, she dove into the ocean swam vertically downward. After diving about ten feet, she felt something metallic brush against her hand. Grabbing onto it, she swam to the surface.

Upon resurfacing and taking a large breath, she was relieved to see Cyborg with Beast Boy still tightly in his arm. Fortunately, when Cyborg ran out of power, his robotic parts locked into place, which kept him from letting go of the still unconscious Beast Boy. Taking Cyborg's other hand, a soaking wet Starfire took to the skies and headed back to the tower as quickly as she could.

* * *

Back at the tower, Starfire carried Cyborg to his charging table and tried to plug him in. In an effort to free Beast Boy from his grasp, she had torn off Cyborg's entire left arm. Having cleaned the wound on his forehead and left Beast Boy in the med bay, she was now trying to get Cyborg up and running so that he could help her with Beast Boy. Taking hold of some cables, she began trying to plug him in. After about ten minutes of fiddling and experimenting, she managed to get him plugged in, but not before leaving several large dents in his titanium body.

Having plugged him in, Starfire immediately flew back to the oilrig that she had left Robin. To her dismay, it had disappeared without a trace! Her communicator told her that she was at the right place the oilrig was gone.

"Robin!" she cried as she circled the area. "Where are you Robin?"

As Starfire circled the area for several hours, all that could be heard was her heartrending cries bouncing off the surface of the ocean. When she finally returned back to the tower, she was tired, hungry, discouraged and worried.

* * *

The full charge cycle took about eight hours, during which Starfire paced back and forth in the med bay and tower. She tried to eat and sleep but was unable to do so because she was so worried. She kept thinking about Robin and checked on Cyborg every ten minutes. He was currently her only hope.

Cyborg sighed and opened his eyes. He realized that he was back in the safety of his room. He unplugged himself and stood up. The last thing he remembered was falling into the ocean and now she was in his room. Starfire must have saved him. Having reattached his arm, he walked to the main room where he saw Starfire fast asleep at the table, communicator in hand. Beside her were an uneaten sandwich and a bottle of mustard.

"Star!" he called loudly shaking her shoulders lightly. She awoke with a start and stared at him for a moment, trying to find her bearings.

"Cyborg!" she cried and jumped up, giving him a big hug. "Beast Boy is injured and Robin is gone! I tried to look for Robin but the whole oilrig did the disappearing!" Exhausted and relieved, she began to cry.

"Easy, Star. I'm sure Robin can take care of himself. I'll go check on BB. You go get some rest." He said as reassuringly as he possibly could. Starfire nodded and went back to her room. Worried as she was, Robin had always said that rest and sleep were important and she trusted Cyborg to handle everything.

* * *

Cyborg entered the med bay and hooked Beast Boy up to several monitors. He then did some scans on his injured friend. He was dismayed with what he saw. Beast Boy had suffered a major concussion and had five broken ribs. In addition, he had broken his left arm and right leg and had sustained numerous fractures on other parts of his body. Cyborg noted that he also had sustained some lung injury from the blows to his chest, though it was too early to tell what the lasting effects would be. After making some casts for Beast Boy and making him as comfortable as possible, Cyborg immediately got to work finding Robin.

"This cannot be good." Muttered Cyborg as he put his head in his hands. The oilrig that Robin had been fighting at was completely destroyed. With no means to escape, Robin must either have drowned or been captured by Slade. Slade had also destroyed every oilrig and oil well in the country, using some unknown technology to stem the oil flow from the ground. It would take months to repair the damages caused meaning that the whole country would either have to buy oil or rely on emergency oil supplies.

* * *

Cyborg tried desperately to trace Robin's communicator but his repeated efforts proved futile. Satellite footage of the ocean did show the entire rig being dismantled by Sladebots, but despite enhancement, the image was too grainy to actually discern what happened to Robin. It was almost as though he had dropped off the face of the earth.

"Cyborg?" he heard a soft voice behind him. "Have you found Robin?" she asked fearing the worst.

"No, Star." Replied Cyborg unwilling to tell her the truth. Tears filling her eyes, she sat beside him on the couch.

"How is Beast Boy?" She asked. "Can I go see him?"

"He's very badly injured." Cyborg replied standing up. "But you can see him if you want." Starfire nodded briefly and the two went to the med bay to check up on Beast Boy. As the two stood watching their friend take each labored breath, Cyborg spoke up.

"Ummm… Starfire?" he said turning to her.

"Yes?" she asked as she looked up.

"Thanks for saving BB and me." He said as he flashed her a small grateful smile. "We owe ya big time."

"You are welcome." She replied a little sadly.

"Look, we'll find Robin." He said understanding her sentiments. "Just like he took care of himself the last time, I'm sure he'll be able to take care of himself this time."

"If Robin does not come back…" Her voice trailed off and she stared at the floor. Her fears were too frightful to be voiced.

"Robin loves ya very much. He'll make sure he comes back for ya." Cyborg tried to encourage her. Starfire was about to respond when the titans' alarm began to beep. Rushing to the main room, they saw that Slade had intercepted an oil tanker headed for their country. Cyborg decided not to risk losing the T-Ship before he had a chance to build a new T-Car and since fuel was precious, Starfire flew them to the oil tanker.

* * *

"Ya ain't getting away with this!" yelled Cyborg as Starfire put him down on the deck of the oil tanker. Several Sladebots landed in front of them, poised for battle. "Remember! Oil is flammable! Only super strength allowed!" he hissed to Starfire as she prepared a star bolt. Before she could respond, the Sladebots attacked. Cyborg equipped himself with a sword and sliced a Sladebot cleanly in half. Starfire on the other hand fought the same way Robin always did. She dodged blows swiftly before returning several of her own.

As the pair fought dozens of Sladebots on the upper deck, they did not notice a much flatter albeit much broader vessel pull up alongside the oil tanker. A huge pipe with the thickness of a horse was stretched across and the Sladebots began transferring oil from the oil tanker to the other vessel. As the liquid gold gushed across, Cyborg and Starfire desperately fought against Slade's minions.

"If you have Robin, give him back to us!" roared Starfire as she smashed her fists into a Sladebot. "I do not wish to hurt you!" she yelled as she crushed a Sladebot against a wall. "But if you do not cooperate I will have to!" she shrieked as she violently threw punches in all directions. Cyborg was now convinced that losing Robin was making Starfire lose her mind. Screaming and yelling, she destroyed the Sladebots in the same way that she had wrecked havoc when she first came to earth.

Suddenly, a speedboat pulled up to the side of the oil tanker and the remaining Sladebots jumped into it. The speedboat zoomed away leaving Cyborg and Starfire standing completely alone on the deck. The silence was eerily frightening. Cyborg began running to the control room and Starfire followed.

"They took all the oil in the tanker!" yelled Cyborg as he scanned several gauges in the control room. "That sneak must have taken the oil when we were distracted fighting those Sladebots!"

"Where is the person who does the driving of this floating contraption?" asked Starfire looking around the large, empty control room.

"You mean the captain?" asked Cyborg doubtfully. Realizing that Starfire had a point, he began looking around for the crew as well. Splitting up, the two titans searched the entire tanker, but were unable to find a single crewmember. Cyborg concluded that Slade must have captured them to use their skills to siphon off more oil from other tankers. Going to the pump room, he was dismayed to find that Slade had even taken the oil tanker's own fuel supply.

"Can we leave?" asked Starfire; suddenly remembering that Beast Boy was all alone in the tower.

"We're stuck." Replied Cyborg. "Slade took every drop of fuel on this boat."

"But I can fly." Starfire reminded him.

"Yes, but we can't just leave this boat in the middle of no where." Cyborg sighed. Suddenly, a novel idea struck him. Could he really ask her to do that? Would it be right? He had to try nonetheless. "Star! Can ya push this tanker back to the port?" he asked as she blinked several times.

"You want me to push this like when Beast Boy had to push the T-Car back to the city because he forgot to put the fuel in it?" Starfire was quite perplexed.

"Yes," chuckled Cyborg when he remembered Beast Boy and the infamous T-Car incident. Beast Boy had wanted to go on a picnic and had begged Cyborg for weeks to let him borrow the T-Car. Of course he could fly there, but this was different. Of all the titans, only Cyborg knew that Beast Boy liked Raven. Beast Boy wanted to impress Raven by bringing her on a romantic picnic at a famous canyon about a hundred miles away from the city. Cyborg refused to loan Beast Boy the T-Car, opting instead to build a regular SUV for him, which Beast Boy proudly dubbed the 'B-mobile'. Beast Boy then spent another month begging Raven to go with him. When she finally agreed out of frustration, Beast Boy packed a huge picnic basket into the car and very proudly got into the driver's seat. He clearly felt very manly driving a cool car with a beautiful girl sitting next to him. Before they left, Cyborg reminded Beast Boy to stop by a gas station to put gas in it, figuring that the car should be running out of fuel since Beast Boy took it out every other day. Beast Boy unfortunately, was not paying attention and on the way back from their romantic picnic, the car ran out of fuel. Beast Boy then asked Raven to teleport them and the car home or get out and help him push the car a hundred miles to the city. Already furious that Beast Boy had spilled fruit juice all over her during the picnic and ticked off by his irresponsibility to refuel the car, Raven teleported herself home leaving Beast Boy to push the car by himself. When she returned home, she was raving mad and when the others heard that Beast Boy was pushing the car home, they tracked his communicator and at three in the afternoon the next day, gathered at the road that led into the city to wait for him to push the car in. Raven came too and when she saw the panting and exhausted Beast Boy push the car in inch by inch, she commented rather dryly,

"You do know that you could've morphed into an eagle, flew back to the city, bought some gas, flew back with it, refueled the car and drove home, right?" She asked in her monotone voice. Beast Boy burst out crying right there and then.

Remembering the scene, Cyborg rolled on the ground laughing while Starfire watched him with frightened eyes.

"Cyborg!" she cried. "What is wrong? Are you okay?"

"Yes, I am!" He said choking back laughter tears. "Can you push the boat?" he added after he had regained his composure.

"Sure…" she said before backing out of the control room. This was just too weird even for the alien girl.


	5. Hanging In A Balance

When Cyborg and Starfire returned with the alien pushing the tanker back into the port, the mayor was delighted. Of course, he was extremely disappointed to find out that the tanker was empty. The furious mayor then ordered the two remaining titans to see him at his office.

"You titans have a duty to protect the city, yet lately you have failed us time and time again." He snarled at the two. "What is happening? The people have been asking questions and I have no answers. If I lose my job I'm going to make sure that you lose yours as well." He snapped, slamming his fist on the table for emphasis. "Where is Robin, Raven and Beast Boy?" he demanded glaring at Cyborg.

"We have no idea where Robin is. We don't know if he's dead or if he's been captured. Beast Boy has been injured in the line of duty and Raven, well Raven has left." Replied Cyborg dreading the mayor's response.

"Left?" Shouted the mayor as he stood up. "What do you mean by left?"

"She went to find someone to teach her how to control her increasing powers." Cyborg replied knowing that talk about other planes of existence and Azar would only confuse the mayor.

"How irresponsible of her! Doesn't she know that she has a duty to protect the city? If her powers are so unstable she shouldn't even be a titan!"

"That's why she left!" retorted Cyborg very heatedly. The mayor had made a big mistake by criticizing Raven. "She was being responsible! She didn't want to accidentally destroy the city because of her growing powers! She'll come back when she has gained proper control over them!"

"As though she even had control over her powers in the first place!" snapped the mayor. Cyborg opened his mouth just as Starfire jumped in between the two.

"Please! Do not fight!" she cried pushing them apart. "Fighting only makes things worsen!" The two continued eyeballing each other until they finally calmed down.

"I'll make you a deal." The mayor said finally as he returned to his seat behind the large desk. "If you two can bring three oil tankers filled with oil back to the city in one week, I'll stall the public and allow you guys to keep your jobs as the city's heroes."

"If not?" asked Cyborg. He did not like where this was going.

"If you don't bring in the oil, I'll commission another set of heroes who are actually competent to protect the city. Do you hear me?" asked the mayor sternly.

"Yes, we do." Cyborg nodded. The mayor motioned for them to leave and they did so.

"What are we going to do now?" asked Starfire as they left the mayor's office.

"I don't know Star." Replied Cyborg. "I don't know." Their jobs were hanging in a balance and they had no idea what to do.

* * *

When they returned to the tower, Cyborg and Starfire immediately began trying to find ways to bring oil into the city. They knew that Slade had them outnumbered and outwitted, but they still had to try. For Robin, Raven and Beast Boy's sake, they had to keep the titans in commission. Cyborg did have one idea, but a week was too little time for him to actually carry it out. He wanted to build a submarine that acted like an oil tanker that could hopefully slip into the city underwater and undetected. Starfire's idea was to find a way to contact Raven. If Raven came back - even for a few minutes - she could create enough oil to last the city for years. The only challenge was actually contacting Raven.

* * *

When Cyborg realized that Starfire's idea could work, they immediately went about trying to find Raven. But because she was visiting another plane of existence, none of Cyborg's advanced technology could locate her. Remembering that Herald could open portals, they decided to contact him on his communicator after which he opened up a portal and stepped into the main room.

"Any requests?" he asked winking at them.

"Yes. Is there any way you can open a portal that leads to another plane of existence?" asked Starfire. Herald stared at her for several seconds.

"W-w-why would you want to go to another plane of existence?" he spluttered.

"Well, Raven went there and we kinda need to go there to tell her we need her help." Replied Cyborg hesitantly.

"Raven died?" asked Herald in horror.

"No! She's still very much alive!" cried Cyborg. "She went there to get help from someone who has died."

"I'm sorry, but that's a note I can't play." Said Herald shaking his head in regret. "My horn can only open portals to different dimensions, not portals to other planes of existence."

"Can you open portals within the same dimension?" asked Cyborg.

"My horn opens up multi-dimensional portals." Replied Herald stressing on the 'multi'.

"Okay." Cyborg was disappointed. He was hoping that Herald could help them transport the oil from one place to another with his portals. "Do you know of any way that we can enter the plane of existence that Raven is now at?"

"You could die." Replied Herald rolling his eyes. Seeing the look that Cyborg gave him, Herald continued more seriously. "No, you can't. Now that Trigon has been destroyed and Raven has become so powerful, she is the most powerful being in the whole universe. Even in my dimension she is respected. Only she alone can travel through planes of existence with her powers."

"If we can't go there, can we contact her?" asked Cyborg.

"I'm not a sorcerer!" snapped Herald. Cyborg suddenly had another idea. After saying goodbye to Herald, he immediately dashed to the main computer. Several seconds later, Jinx's face appeared on the big screen in the main room.

"Hey! What's up?" she asked as Kid Flash appeared beside her.

"Raven has travelled to another plane of existence and we need to contact her." Cyborg got right to the point. Jinx stared at him incredulously for a few seconds.

"Wow!" She exclaimed. "That's awesome!"

"Yeah, yeah. We need her on the team to help us fight Slade but we have no idea how to contact her. Can ya help us?" Jinx stared thoughtfully into space for a moment.

"Do you know how she travelled to this other plane of existence in the first place?" she asked.

"She said she was going to use her soul self to get there." Replied Cyborg.

"Did she use any spells?" Jinx pressed further.

"Just her usual incantation." Said Cyborg hopefully. Maybe Jinx could help them with a viable solution.

"Did she do anything to prepare before she left?"

"She made Robin train her at martial arts and worked out a lot." Jinx was silent for a few more minutes.

"I really have no idea how she got there." Jinx said finally. "It appears that she merely beefed up her physical strength and used her more powerful soul self to get there. She is the daughter of Trigon after all."

"So you heard about the new powers?" asked Cyborg.

"Everyone who makes use of dark magic knows about it." Jinx replied. "Trigon made his will very public among demons and other practitioners of dark magic so that they will listen to Raven." Cyborg nodded thoughtfully as things began to make sense. Perhaps knowledge of Raven's new powers was what caused Kyd Wykkyd to make a quick escape during their battle with the H.I.V.E. Five.

"So Trigon ruled that all demons and practitioners of dark magic would help Raven conquer the universe?" asked Cyborg as he tried to understand what was going on.

"Not really. Trigon gave Raven enough power to conquer whole dimensions pretty easily on her own. I think he made the will public just to frighten those who live in dimensions with spells that will keep him out but not Raven." She replied.

"Hey, if you guys need help with this Slade guy, we can help you." Kid Flash offered. "Where's Robin and Beast Boy?" He asked looking beyond Cyborg and Starfire. "Did I say something wrong?" he demanded when Starfire burst into tears and fled the main room.

"Robin is MIA and Beast Boy is injured." Replied Cyborg.

"Sounds like you guys could use some help." Kid Flash suggested.

"Yeah. We'd like to help you guys." Echoed Jinx. "Things can get a bit boring around here." She added eyeing Kid Flash who glared at her in response. Cyborg seriously considered their offer. They could certainly use the help, with Robin and Raven gone and Beast Boy injured.

"Would it be too much of a trouble?" he asked finally.

"Not at all! We'll be right there!" replied Kid Flash. Seconds later, the pair arrived at the tower.

* * *

With Kid Flash and Jinx to help them, Cyborg decided on a new course of action. Kid Flash would super speed them to oil tankers at other parts of the world and the four would ensure that the tankers and their cargo made it safely to Jump City.

At the harbor in another city, Cyborg, Starfire, Kid Flash and Jinx boarded an oil tanker headed for Jump City. As the tanker was being filled with oil, a lone Sladebot jumped in front of the four. Kid Flash immediately attacked followed by Jinx. Between the four of them, they easily took the Sladebot down. Cyborg ripped off its mask to reveal a screen.

"Cyborg, Starfire." Slade's face appeared on the screen. "If you want to ever see Robin alive, you will not solicit the help of anyone outside the titans."

"What are you talking about?" yelled Cyborg. "Kid Flash and Jinx are titans!"

"Honorary titans, that is." Slade replied calmly. The camera panned and they saw Robin bound to a table that looked very much like Cyborg's charging table. He was bruised and bleeding.

"Robin!" Starfire screamed and fainted. Fortunately, Kid Flash caught her as she fell.

"Jinx. Kid Flash. If you really want to help the titans, you will stay away from them." A beeping sound was heard after Slade spoke. Kid Flash grabbed the Sladebot and tossed away before it exploded.

"Robin!" cried Starfire as she came to. "What has he done to my Robin!" she screamed. Jinx and Kid Flash turned to Cyborg.

"We're not going to listen to him." Jinx insisted. "We'll keep helping you."

"No." Cyborg said firmly. "Star and I will do this on our own. Ya don't understand Slade. He is serious about killing Robin."

"But isn't it our duty as heroes to help other heroes?" asked Kid Flash.

"Slade is different." Replied Cyborg firmly. "He is bent on destroying us titans and he will obliterate anyone who gets in his way."

"We're not afraid." Said Jinx confidently.

"Listen you guys, we really appreciate ya trying to help us. But Slade is our nemesis, not yours. We'll have to take him down on our own. But you can help us by keeping law and order in the city."

Realizing that this was the titans' fight and not theirs, Jinx and Kid Flash agreed to watch over the city for the titans while they focused on Slade.

* * *

Cyborg and Starfire were once again on their own. With Jinx and Kid Flash taking care of the city, that freed them up to try to free Robin. Cyborg spent hours trying to trace Slade's headquarters while Starfire took care of Beast Boy. He was now conscious but was still too badly injured to be of any help on missions. Cyborg and Starfire hated having to leave him alone at the tower when they went out on missions, but they really did not have a choice.

"You really saw Robin?" asked Beast Boy as Starfire brought him a tray of tofu eggs. Unlike Cyborg, she was much more accommodating when it came to his dietary habits.

"Yes," she replied sadly. "Slade was being not nice to him."

"I really wish I could be of help to the team." Beast Boy said wistfully as he gazed at his casts.

"Don't worry. I'm sure you will be better soon." Starfire said optimistically.

"Sometimes, I think that if Raven came back all our problems would go away." Beast Boy confided in her. "She could heal me, use her powers to find Robin, create oil for the city, kick Slade's butt…" His voice trailed off.

"Beast Boy?" Asked Starfire wonderingly.

"Hm?" Beast Boy replied before taking a big bite of tofu.

"Do you like Raven the way Robin likes me?"

"What?" Beast Boy yelped as he hastily swallowed his food.

"You were talking about Raven in the same voice you used to do the praising of Terra with."

"Well, everything seems better when Raven is around." Beast Boy admitted. He was not about to tell Starfire that he was madly in love with Raven.

"That is true." Replied Starfire sadly. "We tried to contact her but we could not."

"I'm sure she will come back." Beast Boy said looking down at his food. "I'm sure she'll come to save us all." He added.

"Is there anything else I can do for you?" asked Starfire sweetly.

"No. Thanks Star." Beast Boy smiled gratefully.

"I will go help Cyborg now." She announced as she stood up. Beast Boy watched her leave before turning back to his food.

"Raven. If you can hear me now," he whispered to himself. "Just know that I love you. I'm crazy about you. If Slade kills us all before you return, just know that I love you and that there's nothing I won't do for you. I love you, Raven." With that, he leaned back on his pillow and closed his eyes, dreaming of the day that he would get to tell Raven what he had just said for real.


	6. Out With The Titans

Through the course of a week, Cyborg and Starfire tried to bring in shipments of oil five times. Every single time, Sladebots intercepted them. After a fierce battle on their fifth try, they managed to deliver one oil tanker and its cargo to the city. However, this was not good enough for the mayor.

"We had a deal." Said the mayor firmly. "If you didn't bring in three oil tankers worth of oil into the city within a week, I'm doing away with the titans."

"Please give us a chance! We did bring in the last oil tanker." Cyborg pleaded.

"Do you think this is my decision?" asked the mayor with a harsh laugh. "The people don't want the titans anymore! They want a group of superheroes that are actually competent to protect them! Not a bunch of scraggly teenage kids! If you really want to protect the city, you'd relinquish your roles to someone who can actually do the job!" Cyborg hung his head and stared at the floor. He knew that the mayor was right. The titans had failed the city too many times. Seeing that he was getting through to Cyborg, the mayor continued. "I've already commissioned another group of heroes. You'll have to vacate the tower in three days."

"What? I built that tower with my own two hands!" yelled Cyborg. "You can't kick us out of our home!"

"Have you forgotten that you built it on an island owned by the state?" the mayor spat out. "Ultimately the state owns the tower and if you're smart you'll move out as you're told! Now, get out of my office!" yelled the mayor.

* * *

Cyborg and Starfire returned to the tower deeply depressed.

"Don't worry, Star. We'll pack up, go someplace else and find another way to defeat Slade." Cyborg promised. "Now let's pack."

With that, they got to work. Cyborg was in charge of his things and Robin's things. Beast Boy was carried to his own room and he told Cyborg how to pack and arrange his stuff. Tearfully, Starfire packed everything she owned into boxes, before going to Raven's room to help Raven with her things. Since most of Raven's things comprised of books, they were quite easy to pack. Starfire could not believe their fortunes. In such a short period of time, the titans had gone from being the city's beloved heroes to being rejects from hero school. Cyborg had found for them a relatively large, empty three-story house at the edge of town. With Starfire and Beast Boy's approval, he purchased it under an alias using the titan's remaining financial supplies.

The titans spent the next three days moving all of their belongings into the house. However, to avoid detection by Slade and the media, they moved according to Cyborg's plan. He created holographic rings for each of them, disguising them as movers. At night, Cyborg drove the moving truck to an abandoned warehouse with Starfire. There was a trapdoor that led from the floor of warehouse to an abandoned subway tunnel below. After bringing their things below and loading them into empty subway cars, Cyborg then coaxed the machines to life. The old subway station at the edge of town was so rundown and dilapidated that no one paid any attention to it. In this way, the titans hoped that they would be able to move undetected.

* * *

The large cream-colored house did look quite grand. It had a spacious garage attached to the house, a generous yard enclosed by a wooden fence and a nicely paved driveway. The previous owners had built the house as a holiday retreat away from the city. The large, dark basement of the house was used as a storage area, where everything the titans had collected over the years was chucked. The first floor housed a living room that lead to a large kitchen, a dining room, and a laundry room along with a spare room. Cyborg converted the spare room into a gym.

There were five similar-sized bedrooms on the second floor, which Cyborg designated one for each titan. Since Starfire, Beast Boy and he were the only ones left, they got to choose their rooms. Of the two remaining rooms, the one whose window was shaded by a large tree was given the Raven, since it was the darkest one in the house. Robin was given the last one.

The third floor contained one large room and two smaller ones. The largest one was used as the main room, where Cyborg installed the large TV and all the other equipment he had taken from the tower. Even if they had to leave their home, they certainly were not going to leave their gadgets behind. The two smaller ones were converted into the titans' med bay and evidence room respectively. Cyborg parked Beast Boy's B-mobile in the garage next to Robin's R-Cycle. There was no space for the T-Ship, so Cyborg was forced to split it up in its five respective subcomponents and stash them in the toolshed in the yard.

* * *

On their first day living in the new house, the titans faced their first problem. The tightly knitted community they had moved into noticed their new neighbors and proceeded to line up at the titans' door with baskets of muffins and goodies. Starfire wanted to open the door for them, but Cyborg vehemently protested. He had covered every window in the house with curtains for a reason. Since the titans had failed the city, they would not be welcome anywhere. Cyborg wanted some peace for once. The last thing they needed were angry citizens banging on the door. Poor Starfire was forced to sit in her room while the neighbors rang the doorbell repeatedly. Finally, they gave up and went away.

Cyborg on the other hand, was busy in the garage, where he had brought all his tools. He was modifying and adjusting the holographic rings he had made for each of the titans. With the rings, he could change their outward appearances completely. Cyborg intended to use them to make himself and his friends look normal. If he could convince the neighbors that Starfire was his "wife" and Beast Boy was their "son", they would trust them and leave them alone. Already the neighbors were becoming suspicious since no one had come to receive their muffin baskets. Cyborg knew it would only be a matter of time before they noticed that their new neighbors moved in just when the titans left the tower. If they kept hiding in the house, it would make it easy for their neighbors to guess that they were the titans. In order to defeat Slade, they had to lie low for a while. Without Raven, Robin and Beast Boy, they did not stand a chance.

* * *

"I will not pretend to be your wife!" yelled Starfire as Cyborg desperately shushed her.

"All we have to do is to go to church with Beast Boy!" He retorted. "It'll only take one public appearance for the neighbors to trust us!"

"I am Robin's girlfriend." She said firmly.

"And you are not my parents!" interjected Beast Boy.

"Fine, we'll pretend to be siblings!" conceded Cyborg making some adjustments to the rings. "Happy?" he hissed as he tossed the other two their rings. Putting it on, they were all shocked by the transformation. They certainly looked like a lovely bunch of siblings with blond hair and blue eyes. Cyborg figured that Beast Boy and Starfire would never be able to pull off an African American front. "Now," he continued taking a deep breath. "Let's go to church!"

* * *

The "siblings" took Beast Boy's B-mobile to church. Cyborg repeatedly cautioned Starfire not to say anything. Of the three of them, she was most likely to blow their cover. To Cyborg's dismay, the pastor of the church insisted that the siblings introduced themselves during the church service.

Hesitantly, he walked to the front of the church leaving Starfire in the front row, next to Beast Boy in his wheelchair.

"Good morning!" he greeted them. "I'm Timothy Johnson. I'm nineteen." He lied. "She is my younger sister, Theresa and he is our younger brother, Thomas." He said pointing to Beast Boy. "Our parents will be out of town for a few weeks." He added before anyone could ask any questions.

"Oh, you poor thing!" cried an old lady when she saw Beast Boy's casts. "How did you hurt yourself, sweetie?"

"Thomas decided that it would be a good idea to try skateboarding down a steep hill." Cyborg interjected quickly.

"Oh! That's too bad. Get well soon! We will all be praying for you!" said the old lady sweetly. Cyborg heaved a sigh of relief. The church had bought their masquerade.

"_We are so going to hell_." thought Cyborg.

* * *

Cyborg and Starfire spent the next few weeks worrying. Before they moved in, Cyborg set up an electrostatic shield of sorts that would prevent anyone from tracking or monitoring them. Now that they knew that they had taken precautions to prevent Slade from finding them, they had to worry about Robin and about making ends meet. Starfire was becoming very depressed lately. She was downright miserable and spent whole afternoons locked up in her room mourning and moping because Cyborg would not allow her out of the house to search for Robin. She knew that keeping a low profile was important, but Robin was more important to her.

Beast Boy spent his afternoons reading comics and finding things to amuse himself with. He never knew it was possible to be so bored. Lately, Starfire often refused to stay in his room to keep him company. Instead, after taking care of his needs, she would retreat to her room and lock the door. He cried every time she rejected him, not because he felt hurt by it but because the way she rejected him reminded him too much of the way Raven used to reject him.

In contrast, Cyborg was a whirlwind of activity. Since oil and electricity were getting expensive, Cyborg installed as many solar panels on the roof as he could. He also hooked up every exercise machine in the gym to a large power cell, so that whoever who was working out would charge it. Starfire contributed a lot of power when she started working out her worries away like Robin used to. Being the current leader of the team, Cyborg took it upon himself to get two jobs to support the others. Now that the titans no longer received money from the city, they needed a viable income. Cyborg did double-duty installing solar panels for neighbors and working as the local mechanic's assistant. He was actually making quite good money doing that, since even people from neighboring towns solicited his services.

* * *

Robin opened his eyes and stared blankly at the now familiar walls around him. He was gradually losing perception of time, though he figured that he had been in Slade's headquarters for about a month now. As his eyes adjusted to the brightness of the room, he wished that this were all a dream. Hearing the echo Slade's footsteps as he paced around in the next room, Robin sighed. Slade had kept him tied to the bed for weeks, not even allowing him to get up to stretch. Unable to exercise, Robin could only watch helplessly as his muscles wasted away. To make matters worse, for the past few days Slade had force-fed him nothing but junk food. Robin now understood what Slade was doing to him. Slade was trying to turn him into a fat, unfit couch potato. Since Robin had no superpowers, he would be rendered useless if he were to become unfit.

As he lay alone all day, his mind wandered to the far corners of the earth. He wondered what his friends were doing. He wondered how they were faring. There were so many unanswered questions in his mind. How badly injured was Beast Boy? Was Starfire able to fight off the Sladebots that intercepted her? Was she able to save Cyborg and Beast Boy? Did they drown? If they lived, what happened to them? How was his precious Starfire? He could only imagine the pain she must be in now, if she still lived. How he hated himself for allowing himself to get captured. He tried every day to escape, but as the days passed his efforts proved to be futile.

Robin wondered if Raven had returned. His better judgment told him that she would not return so soon, yet something within him continued to long and hope for her return. He hoped that if she returned and the others lived, they would be able to rescue him. It seemed selfish to want so badly to be rescued seeing that the people in the city were probably suffering without power and fuel; yet Robin could not help himself. Every day, Slade taunted and tortured him. Robin was being bombarded on all sides and this torture was rapidly becoming unbearable, even for him. He was fed fattening foods, mentally tormented all day and physically beaten. From every angle in every waking moment, Slade made him suffer. Physical pain only hurt him that much. What hurt him even more were Slade's mind games. Slade would tell him different things on different days, making him so confused that he felt as though he would lose his mind. Today, Starfire lived, tomorrow she was injured and still tomorrow she was dead. After this cycle was repeated several times, Robin had no idea if she was dead or alive and it hurt him to the core not to know. As he desperately rolled his eyes at the ceiling, Robin felt waves of desperation overcome him.

"If there's a wishing star out there," he said to himself inaudibly. "I wish for Starfire. I wish for my friends. I wish to save the city. I wish to rejoin the titans. I wish for their safety." As he heard Slade's footsteps approaching his cell, he closed his eyes and bowed his head.


	7. Killing Two Titans With One Bullet

Another three weeks of agony passed. Starfire thought about Robin constantly and would often wander around his room, admiring his things. Her relationship with Cyborg was becoming increasingly strained. The two argued every day because Starfire wanted to go save Robin while Cyborg felt that the team was still to weak to undertake such a task. Beast Boy's bones had healed enough for him to remove the casts by now, however weeks of inactivity had stripped him of a lot of muscle mass. Cyborg figured that it would take him at least three or four months of rigorous training before he could be counted battle worthy. But Beast Boy himself was undergoing an emotional crisis and working out was the last thing on his mind.

Lately, Beast Boy had been having many sweet dreams about Raven, so much so that he was beginning to sleep more just so that he could escape from the pain of reality and into Raven's arms in his dreams. Of course, he did not tell that to Cyborg and thus argued with his best friend every day. Cyborg wanted him to train more seriously so that they could go after Slade and rescue Robin but Beast Boy would rather curl up in bed and dream about Raven.

"Ya don't do anything around here!" yelled Cyborg as he glared at Beast Boy. "I go out to earn all the money while you sit at home and sleep. Would it kill ya to at least try to be battle ready? Slade could find us any minute! What would happen to us then?"

"You don't understand what I'm going through!" hollered Beast Boy in return.

"What have ya gone through?" screamed Cyborg in response. "You had a couple of broken bones, big deal! Get over it B! The team needs you and ya can't always act like a child forever!"

Meanwhile, Starfire sat in her room crying. She hated it when her friends fought but she hated it even more when they fought because of her. She knew that Cyborg was trying to get Beast Boy to train to be battle ready so that they could go rescue Robin as quickly as possible. However, Beast Boy was not cooperating and while Starfire was frustrated with him about it, she understood that he had his reasons for wanting to sleep all day. She could see it on his face that he was suffering and she did not know why. In the midst of her heartrending sobs, she heard a knock on her door.

"Star?" she heard Cyborg's voice on the other side.

"Yes?" she asked tearfully.

"Could ya please open the door?" Cyborg asked as politely as he possibly could. After hesitating for a moment, Starfire walked to the door.

"Yes?" she asked again as she looked at him through tear filled eyes. Cyborg's heart literally went out to her.

"Look, I want to go rescue Robin too, but at this point the team is too weak. Why don't ya go talk to BB? Something is bothering him but he won't tell me what." He hesitated as she bowed her head. "I need to go to work now." He said quietly. Starfire watched as he walked down the hall and disappeared down the stairs. Then she went to Beast Boy's room.

"Beast Boy?" she asked as stood outside his door. "May I come in?" She stood outside for a few minutes waiting for Beast Boy to acknowledge her but he ignored her. "Beast Boy!" she cried as tears streamed down her face again. "Please! Let me come in!" Beast Boy listened to her sobbing at the other side of the door for a few seconds before his heart softened. He walked to the door and opened it and watched in amazement as Starfire stumbled inside.

"Star, are you okay?" he asked now genuinely concerned.

"No, I am not." She cried. "I miss Robin so much! I need Robin! We must save him yet you refuse to do the working out! We need your help Beast Boy but now it seems to me that you do not wish to help!"

"Star! It's not like that!" Beast Boy protested. "Slade is a really smart guy! He knows that we are weaker without Raven and now that she's gone, he took Robin to make us even weaker! What makes you think the three of us can take Slade down on our own?" He practically yelled.

"That doesn't mean we can't try!" she retorted as she continued to cry. "You do not even try!"

"What if we get injured?" cried Beast Boy. "When I got injured, you and Cyborg did such a bad job of defeating the Sladebots that we lost our home! We are too weak now Star!"

"But we will be even weaker if you do not do the working to make yourself strong!"

"Even if I did work out, we will still be weak! Look at Cinderblock! He's really strong but because he's so stupid, smart people like Slade can easily make use of him! We've lost Robin and Raven, the smartest and most mature members our group! How can we fight Slade now? He's just gonna play with us like he plays with Cinderblock!" Just then, the door burst open causing Beast Boy and Starfire to jump in shock. Starfire let out a scream until she saw the person standing at the doorway was Cyborg. He had evidently decided to be late for work.

"Are you trying to say that I'm not smart?" he yelled as he stalked towards Beast Boy. "Are you trying to say that I'm not smart and mature enough to lead this team to victory?"

"Yes!" retorted Beast Boy. "Remember what happened when you tried to lead the titans east? You totally blew it!" Beast Boy had bruised Cyborg's sensitive spot.

"You know what?" he yelled. "If you think you can do a better job as a leader, I welcome ya to try!"

"Please stop fighting!" cried Starfire at the top of her lungs.

"What exactly do ya want?" Cyborg yelled again, this time at her. "Do you really wanna rescue Robin? If you do then you'll let the best leader lead!" Starfire remained silent and looked at the floor.

"Why are you so quiet?" demanded Beast Boy. "Do you actually think that Cyborg would make a better leader?" He began to raise his voice.

"No…"

"So ya don't think that I'm a good leader?" roared Cyborg before she could finish.

"You are!" she cried in response.

"So now you think he's a better leader than me?" yelled Beast Boy.

"I just wish for everything to back to the way they used to be!" Starfire suddenly cried out, running out of Beast Boy's room as quickly as she could. Cyborg and Beast Boy glared at each other.

"Now you've made her cry!" Beast Boy stared accusingly at Cyborg.

"She was already crying when I got here!" roared Cyborg in return.

"She was already crying when she got to my room!"

"She was already crying when I knocked on her door!" The two continued glaring at each other for several seconds before Cyborg turned around and headed out the door. He really had to go to work this time.

* * *

Starfire remained locked in her room for the rest of the day, bawling her eyes out. In fact, she spent the next two weeks in her room, only coming out for food once thanks to her nine stomachs. Beast Boy ignored her because he knew that she felt that Cyborg was a better leader because Robin had made him his second in charge. Cyborg on the other hand had a lot more pressing issues on his mind, leading him to ignore both Starfire and Beast Boy.

* * *

Cyborg was truly and deeply worried. The city was running out of oil, making electricity even more expensive. The mayor had replaced the titans with another group of superheroes, known as the STRIVE. Cyborg thought that their name sounded suspiciously like the H.I.V.E. and having reviewed a secret footage of the team's battles, was convinced that the mayor had released the H.I.V.E. from prison in exchange for their services as superheroes. Team STRIVE consistently brought in three oil tankers into the city every week. However, considering that the whole country was currently being deprived of oil, that was very little. But since they fared better than the titans and their true identities were hidden from the public, everyone welcomed them with open arms. This made Cyborg very worried as the H.I.V.E. did have affiliations with Slade. These affiliations could explain why they had such an easy time obtaining those three oil tankers of oil per week.

To make matters worse, it was autumn and winter was fast approaching. Already Cyborg was beginning to notice that the solar panels were producing less power as a result. If not for the fact that Beast Boy was now working out vigorously after Cyborg told him that Raven might like a guy with a better physique, Cyborg would not even have enough power to get through the day. The position of their house also worried him. The house's position meant that it would not receive more than half an hour of sun every day during the winter. In their hurry to find a house when they were made to move from the tower, Cyborg had overlooked realized that by the first week of winter, even if Beast Boy and Starfire worked out continually, they would only be able to produce enough power just to keep him running, let alone enough power for a full charge. Cyborg decided that it was time to hold a team meeting, since his ability to fight or even move would soon be threatened, seeing he had so little power left and so little was being created.

"You mean that very soon you won't be able to move?" asked Beast Boy.

"Well, I still could if you and Star worked out like mad."

"Is that why you told me that Raven would like a more muscular guy?" Beast Boy was smarter than Cyborg gave him credit for. "You were making use of me to charge your power cell!"

"You were the one that believed me! Besides, Raven may actually like more muscular guys!"

"You could have just told me the truth that you needed power!" Beast Boy snapped angrily.

"And if I told you that would you have helped me?" asked Cyborg. "I think not. You were too busy trying to prove that you're a better leader!"

"So that's what this is about! Well, I'm gonna just work out in my room then! We'll see how you can lead when you've run out of power!"

"That's what I called this team meeting for!" retorted Cyborg. "We need to have a plan!" Just then, Starfire came down the stairs. Seeing the boys arguing, she quickly tried to retreat to her room but they were too fast for her.

"Starfire!" they both yelled in unison. Unwillingly, she came back down the stairs and sat down at the table.

"Star, Beast Boy and I were having a discussion as to who would lead the team in Robin's absence." Announced Cyborg. "Beast Boy voted for himself and I voted for myself. Who ya vote for will be the leader. So what dya say?"

"Is it going to be Cyborg or me?" Beast Boy asked winking at her.

"I do not know." She said confused by the whole situation.

"Don't tell us you want to be the leader?" said Cyborg sharply.

"No." she said shaking her head.

"Then which one of us will it be?" demanded Cyborg.

"Vote for me!" suggested Beast Boy. "In a few days Chrome Dome here won't be able to move!"

"What?" Starfire asked turning to Cyborg, concern in her eyes.

"He's right." Said Cyborg sadly. "Before long there will be so little sunshine that the solar panels on the roof will generate very little power. Even if both of you worked out like crazy, I won't have enough power to go on any missions."

"Is there not any spare power cells?" asked Starfire.

"We have spare power cells," Cyborg admitted. "But they aren't charged."

"Why not?" asked Beast Boy.

"Well, we needed the money so I took on a lot of jobs installing solar panels. The response was so good I had to work twenty-hour days. So I naturally used up a lot of power. When the solar panels on the roof didn't produce enough power and neither of you worked out, I tapped into the spare cells we have in the garage." Beast Boy was silent for a minute when he realized that the only reason why he could sleep and dream about Raven all day was because Cyborg was out there working so hard.

"I'm sorry, Cy. I didn't know." He said hanging his head.

"It's okay, BB. The point is, we are a team and we need to solve this problem together."

"But what are we to do?" asked Starfire, clearly discouraged.

"I could change into a Cheetah and run really fast so that I can make a lot of electricity!" Beast Boy said brightly.

"But won't that tire you out?" asked Cyborg.

"That's okay." Beast Boy replied with a smile.

"No, it's not." Cyborg insisted. "If you and Star tire yourselves out just to give me power, we would still be just as weak in battle."

"We can't just leave you to shut down!" cried Beast Boy in dismay.

"Do you know why we're using candles for light? All the power in the city has been channeled to those who need it the most, those in hospitals! You have to face the fact that I'm running out of power!" Cyborg said hanging his head. A knock sounded on the door. Standing up, Cyborg put on his ring as did the others.

"I'll get it!" said Beast Boy as he ran to the door. Grabbing the handle he opened the door just as a gunshot rang out. With a scream, he clutched his chest and fell to the floor. Cyborg and Starfire ran to the door. Three men with guns stood at the door.

"You are the teen titans!" the leader yelled. "And you deserve to die for not protecting the city!" Lowering his gun, he fired a bullet, which bounced off Cyborg's metallic body. The three men jumped away as the bullet ricocheted. Starfire picked Beast Boy up and ran to the med bay with him. He was bleeding profusely. Meanwhile, a small army of men from the town broke down the fence and gathered around the house, guns in hand.

"What makes you think we're the titans?" demanded Cyborg as he stood firmly at the doorway.

"A bullet just bounced off you!" one of them yelled.

"Actually, we heard Beast Boy say your name during an argument. He also mentioned Robin and Raven." Their leader added.

"What makes you think that the city being without power is the titans' fault?" yelled Cyborg. "Don't ya know that we tried our best?"

"Yes, but your best was not good enough. Because there is no oil in the city, the ambulance didn't come and my mother died of a heart attack!" the man spat out. "The STRIVE may not be doing a great job either but we trusted you titans to take care of the city and you have failed!" a determined gleam shone in his eye. "And we will punish you for it!" The men steadied their guns as Cyborg heard Starfire scream Beast Boy's name from upstairs. Glaring at the men, he pulled off his ring and unleashed his sonic cannon. Though he knew this would probably knock him out, he fired his cannon and blew the entire group of men out of the yard. Shocked and frightened, they fled like a herd of stampeding wildebeests. Closing the door and locking it, Cyborg saw that he had just one percent of battery left. Moving as fast as he could, he returned to his room and plugged himself in. Then everything went black.

* * *

Starfire spend hours in the med bay, desperately trying to stop the blood flow. She had gone to Cyborg's room to get help from him only to find him completely shut down. The blast from his sonic cannon had drained whatever power he had left and night was falling, meaning Cyborg would get no power from the solar panels.

Starfire worked endlessly to try to save Beast Boy and after several hours, her efforts appeared to pay of. He stopped bleeding and she was grateful to see that he was still breathing. In that day, two titans had been taken down with just one bullet. Closing her eyes, she leaned back on her chair for a moment when she heard something on the roof breaking. However, she was exhausted from her labors to save Beast Boy and too deeply upset about Cyborg to care. She never felt so alone in her life.


	8. Starfire Stands Alone

When Starfire woke up the next morning, Beast Boy was still breathing, albeit very shallowly. She knew that she must do something fast. She kept checking on Cyborg in his room but noticed that he was not charging. Realizing that something must have happened to the solar panels, she went to the gym and feverishly ran on the treadmill for several hours. That did the trick.

* * *

"How is he?" asked Starfire as Cyborg stitched up Beast Boy's wound.

"He's very weak, but I think he'll make it." Cyborg replied gravely.

"I'll go run on the treadmill now." Said Starfire as she turned to leave.

"No, Star. You can't." Cyborg grabbed her shoulder and stopped her from leaving.

"Why not?" she asked innocently.

"Even if ya worked out like mad, only a portion of that energy will actually get converted into electricity. You'll be tired and I will not have much power from it. And right now, the team needs you to be strong, since you're the only one that can actually fight now." Sighing, Cyborg turned back to Beast Boy, who was now heavily drugged and fast asleep. "He was right. I'm not a good leader. I've been in charge for just slightly over two months and look what's happened to us."

"Cyborg." Said Starfire in a soft, heartbroken voice that made him turn to look at her. "I cannot fight."

"Why not?" he asked curiously.

"Emotions do the controlling of my powers. For me to fly, I must feel unbridled joy. But without Robin and with Raven gone and with Beast Boy injured and with you with no power, I simply cannot feel happy. To use my strength, I must have boundless confidence but that I do not have because the team is so weak. I only can use my star bolts because righteous fury and anger are the only things I can feel now. But I am so confused because I do not know where Robin is. That makes my powers weak." The alien princess closed her eyes and left the room. Cyborg let her go. He knew that she needed time to be alone and to think.

* * *

Cyborg had plenty of things on his mind as well. As he tried to fix the solar panels that someone had mysteriously broken, he finally understood Slade's plan more completely. Slade was controlling the city's oil supplies specifically to take him down. With the city in a power crisis, Cyborg would be most badly affected and now that power supplies were cut off and the solar panels were broken, Cyborg would eventually become useless without power. Already, the STRIVE were only bringing in one oil tanker per week and sometimes none at all.

Cyborg also figured that Slade attacked several oilrigs at once to split them up and further weaken them, allowing him to capture Robin. Seeing how much Robin's departure affected Starfire, Cyborg could only conclude that Slade was targeting Starfire, who had already lost her ability to fly and her superhuman strength mostly due to that. Cyborg had no idea what Slade was doing to Robin, but if what he had surmised was Slade's plan, then it was working brilliantly.

Cyborg tried to fix the broken solar panels, but they were broken beyond repair. Realizing that he did not have enough power to make new ones, he returned to his room and wrote down everything he had concluded about Slade's plans in a notebook, along with instructions on how to care for Beast Boy and evidence he had collected that the STRIVE was actually the H.I.V.E. Then he slipped the notebook under Starfire's door before returning to his own room. Just as he lay down on his charging table, everything went black.

* * *

Starfire woke up about six hours later, having cried herself to sleep. Hastily, she jumped out of bed and dragged a comb through her long red hair. Noticing the notebook on the floor, she picked it up and leafed through it. Seeing its contents, she ran to the med bay and gave Beast Boy the medicine that Cyborg had told her to in the notebook.

After Beast Boy was taken care of, she returned to the book. In it, Cyborg had outlined to her Slade's plan and Starfire saw that Slade was taking Robin away specifically to hurt her. However, of all the members in the team, she was not exactly the most cunning strategist and despite spending hours racking her brains, she could not come up with a single plan to take down Slade. On top of that, the paparazzi had been notified of the titans' location and they now camped out on their lawn, waiting for someone to come out.

* * *

Starfire tried going online to order some solar panels, only to find that they were all out of stock. To make matters worse, no one would help her since she was a member of the team that failed the city. She wanted to work out to generate power for Cyborg, but she knew that the power would not last long and that after she was done she would be too tired to care for Beast Boy or to protect the other titans should someone invade their home. Starfire was at a loss as to what she should do, but Cyborg's revelation about Slade's plan gave her hope. Now that she knew a little bit about what Slade was up to, she felt a glimmer of hope grow within her. This glimmer grew steadily and quickly helped her to regain her ability to fly and her extraordinary strength.

* * *

"Beast Boy?" Starfire asked hopefully as she watched him open his eyes for the first time in days.

"Starfire?" he asked blinking several times.

"Cyborg says that you are not to move!" she said quickly when he tried to sit up. As pain stabbed his chest mercilessly, Beast Boy lay back down.

"What happened?" he groaned.

"You were shot." She replied simply.

"Why do I keep getting hurt?" he moaned. "I feel so useless."

"No, you are not." She replied. "I need you to help me do the storm of the brain."

"Me? Brainstorming?" asked Beast Boy, widening his eyes in surprise. It was rare for someone to want to brainstorm with him. "Shouldn't you do that with Cyborg?"

"Cyborg has no power left." Replied Starfire sadly.

"What?" cried Beast Boy in horror. "How did that happen?"

"He had little power but when someone did the shooting at the house he used his sonic cannon to get rid of them."

"Oh." Beast Boy said lowering his ears. He was humbled to think that Cyborg would do that for Starfire and himself. But Beast Boy did his best and listened attentively as Starfire told him about Slade and his plans. As she spoke, things gradually began to make sense.

"If only I knew how to get Slade to let Robin go without actually doing the fight with him." Starfire sighed. At this point she too knew that the team was too weak to fight Slade.

"Well," Beast Boy said as he grimaced for a second. The bullet had entered his right lung, making it very hard for him to talk. "If what Cyborg says about Slade wanting to hurt you is true, then if you show Slade that you aren't hurt by Robin going away, he might give him back."

"Why would he do that?" she asked, not quite understanding.

"Cuz he wants to hurt you more. He probably has brainwashed Robin by now so that when he does come back, he will probably be very different. Since you love the old Robin, you will feel sad when you meet the new Robin and you won't have your powers anymore." Beast Boy replied. When she finally understood what he said, she jumped up with a big smile. "Please don't hug me!" cried Beast Boy as he braced himself. Remembering that she could actually hurt him more, she restrained herself.

"Beast Boy, you are so geniusome!" She exclaimed before she left the room. Beast Boy laughed out loud and this time, it seriously hurt him to laugh. It was extremely rare for someone to call him a genius. If he had a penny for every time someone - usually Raven - called him a idiot, he would be a billionaire. However, if he had a dollar for every time someone called him a genius, he probably would be beyond bankrupt and broke because as Raven put it,

"'Beast Boy' and 'genius' are two words made to repel each other. It's called the order of the universe." Remembering her words and hearing her voice in his mind, Beast Boy could not help but smile. Her voice always had a calming effect on him, yes, even her insults. Raven was magical in more ways than one.

* * *

Now that she knew what Slade was up to, Starfire decided to go in search of food. Due to the lack of oil and gas and Slade's control of all shipping routes and highways, food imports no longer came to the city, so much so that those in the city center were beginning to starve. However, the titans were fortunate enough to be located at the edge of the city, near some farms. Starfire decided to make a trip there for some supplies. Thankfully, the journalists were still outside. When the oil crisis first hit, the newspaper companies were the first to get solar panels.

Starfire got a huge basket and went to Raven's room. Opening the window, she broke several branches that obstructed it. As the branches crashed to the ground, the entire group of journalists jumped up and grabbed their cameras. Taking the basket, Starfire flew out of the window and headed to the nearest farm, the journalists following her as though their lives depended on it. Any dirt on the disgraced titans would make waves everywhere.

Starfire arrived at the first farm and as she flew over the barn was shocked to see the farmer and his two sons standing outside their barn with guns in hand. Slowly closing in on them was a group of about two-dozen men dressed in plain, dark blue jumpsuits. They also carried guns.

"Give up your food supplies now!" yelled the leader of the men.

"You have no right to take our food from us!" retorted the farmer.

"Yes, we do!" roared the leader, incensed by such defiance. Starfire realized that they were extorting food supplies from the farmers. The titan in her resurfaced and she dropped the basket, scaring the life out of all of them.

"You leave them alone!" she screamed as she prepared a star bolt. Quickly taking aim, the leader fired at her only to have his bullet intercepted by a star bolt. Unknown to him, the journalists being unable to fly had taken the road and were now behind them shooting one picture after another.

"We have a right to take this food!" the leader yelled at her. "The government says so!"

"No, you do not!" she screamed in return. "You do not do the taking of food! You only do the buying of food!"

"The military needs it! In times like this people cannot be selfish!" roared the leader in reply.

"You are the ones who are the selfish!" She shouted. "You just take and do not do the caring of others!" The leader tried to shoot her again only miss as she ducked out of the way. The leader and his men quickly pointed their guns at the farmer and his sons.

"If you do not go away and mind your own business, we will shoot them!" yelled the leader, confident that their bulletproof vests would protect him and his men from the guns of the farmer and his sons. Realizing that he was serious, Starfire retreated and flew away. Grinning triumphantly, the leader and his men closed in on the farmer and his sons again, having watched her fly off into the horizon.

But Starfire was not planning to go anywhere. She flew as fast as she could away from the farm, then turned and flew back, this time making sure the group of men had their backs turned towards her. Without warning, she unleashed a flurry of star bolts and destroyed every single one of their guns. Having done so, she landed in front of the farmer and his son and prepared her star bolts. Without their guns, the men made a hasty retreat, only to be faced by an army of reporters.

"Don't report any of this!" yelled the leader as he tried to snatch a camera away. His men followed suit, but Starfire was not about to let them bully anyone else for that day. Screaming, she flew towards them again and this time, the leader and his men fled for their lives from the furious alien girl. A huge cheer erupted from the crowd. As she landed, the farmer and his sons came running towards her.

"Thank you so much!" he exclaimed, shaking her hand vigorously and taking off his hat.

"You are truly welcome." She replied happily. Flying back to her basket, she picked it up and turned back to the farmer. "I would like to do the purchasing of some food." She said as she took out some money.

"Don't worry about it!" cried farmer, pushing the money away before grabbing the very confused alien girl into his barn and filling her basket.

"We're more than happy to share food with the titans." Said the older son as he and his brother gaped at her. She tried repeatedly to pay them but they refused, so she took the basket and went home.

* * *

The next day, every newspaper in Jump City featured her on their headlines, which all read along the line of "Teen Titan Saves Farmer and Sons". While everyone hailed her as a hero, the government began to view her as a villain. They needed the food for the military, now that they had joined forces with the STRIVE to defeat the enemy whose name they did not even know. But because of Starfire, the people began looking at them as though they were the bad guys. And so in this way, the alien princess became an enemy of the government and of Slade, standing alone against armies of men, both robotic and human.


	9. Terra Remembers

Slade watched the news with disgust. He had thought that Robin's absence would cripple Starfire and her powers. Though it did work for a while, it no longer did and he knew that he had to launch the next phase of his plan.

* * *

Starfire smiled cheerily as she did the dishes. She was happy to see that Beast Boy was slowly recovering from his injuries. As she put the dishes away, she heard the doorbell ring. Flying over to it, she opened the door and almost collapsed in shock.

Standing before her leaning heavily on two walking sticks was someone she had never seen before. In fact, she did not even know that people could get this fat. Why, the person before her must have weighed close to or more than four hundred pounds!

"Hello?" she asked blinking at him several times.

"Starfire!" the stranger cried out. He was about four feet tall, wore a huge pair of jeans and a large white shirt and had his hair slicked back.

"Robin?" she asked in shock and disbelief. Hastily, she ushered him into the house and closed the door. Then, she ran up to him and gave him a big hug. "Robin!" she cried. "You are back! What happened to you?" she asked as she looked him over.

"Ummm… Let's just say Slade force-fed me with pure, concentrated animal fat." Said Robin with a sigh.

"How did you escape?" she asked, horrified.

"I didn't." Robin replied. "Some mystery person broke me out and left me on the street. I saw the newspaper with your face on it, so that's why I came here."

"Oh, Robin!" cried Starfire as she hugged him again and burst into tears. He looked like a baby chimpanzee with the body fat of a hippopotamus.

"Star, I only have one thing to say." He said looking into her eyes. "I love you and I've missed you so much."

"I love you too." She said sweetly, purposely avoiding the topic about his weight.

She then spent the next hour filling him in on everything that had happened so far. When Beast Boy woke up and yelled for her from upstairs, she merely picked him up and carried him up the stairs, bridal style.

"Hey St-" Beast Boy stopped short when he saw the humongous person in her arms.

"Hello Beast Boy. It's me."

"Robin?" asked Beast Boy in shock and horror. "What happened to you? Why are you so fat?"

"Beast Boy!" Said Starfire in a chiding tone.

"Sorry Star." Beast Boy apologized but could not help but laugh. Robin felt deeply hurt, but he tried not to show it.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, as he tried not to sound hurt.

"It hurts a lot." Beast Boy admitted. "But the painkillers have helped. What did Slade do to you? Did you gather any info?"

"Actually, I did." Said Robin as he sat down. Thanks to his weight, it hurt him to stand for too long. "Slade tormented me by first telling me that Starfire was alive, then telling me that she was dead. He showed me snippets of the news that made me doubt if Starfire was alive, like the one when you were made to move out of the tower. Because of that I knew that Cyborg and you had made it, but I still didn't know what happened to Starfire. Then he kept showing me articles about how you got injured and Cyborg got his butt kicked by his Sladebots. He made me feel so terrible for not being there to help and so worried about Starfire. He kept telling me that you and Cyborg would hate me for not being there for you guys. Based on this, I think that Slade is trying to break us up. He knows that I won't turn on Star, so he's first going to try to break our current team in half."

"Then how does Raven fit into this picture?" asked Beast Boy curiously. "She is the most powerful one of us all."

"That's what I kept thinking about." Robin replied rubbing his forehead. "If Slade wanted to break us in half, what exactly did he plan to do with Raven? I was thinking that Slade would probably force Raven to pick one side."

"But even if she picks one side, would not Raven still be one of Slade's enemies?" asked Starfire. "Even if he breaks us up we will all still be against him, yes?"

"I didn't think about that." Admitted Robin. He hated to admit it, but he was stumped. Slade was trying to break them up but their common hatred for him would unite them instead. So exactly what was Slade planning?

"Let us do the pact that we will stay together no matter what happens." Suggested Starfire softly.

"We'll stay together, I promise." Robin looked up with a smile.

"Yeah. I swear too." Grinned Beast Boy weakly from his bed.

"This is amazing!" Cried Starfire. Beast Boy had not seen her smile this brightly in months.

"Ummm… Star? Can you bring me down to the gym? I need to start working out." Said Robin.

"Sure!" she exclaimed before picking him up as though he were weightless.

* * *

Robin worked out for weeks. Thanks to his constant efforts in the gym, Cyborg was now up and running. Yet despite eating healthily and exercising like a madman, Robin did not lose any weight. He could not believe his eyes. Every day after running doggedly for eight hours, he would step onto the scale only to see that he had lost about two pounds. When he rehydrated himself, he quickly regained those two pounds. Robin was not burning any fat and he was becoming very worried.

"What's happening to me?" he asked desperately as Cyborg did some scans.

"I think I know what's the problem." Announced Cyborg triumphantly. "Slade let you go on purpose."

"What?" exclaimed Robin. "He had me! Why would he do that?"

"Before someone broke ya out, did Slade do anything to ya?" asked Cyborg as he reviewed the scans.

"He did give me an injection." Robin admitted.

"Exactly. Every molecule of fat in your body is currently encapsulated in a substance that your body cannot break down. That means that your fats cannot be hydrolyzed, meaning no matter how hard ya work out, you will not lose any of that fat because your body cannot break it down." Cyborg replied, feeling like a genius for figuring this out.

"Do you have an antidote?" asked Robin hopefully.

"Sorry, man." Cyborg said sadly. "It's gonna take a lot of research for me to come up with one. It could take months or even years." Robin was grateful that he now wore his mask, because he felt as though he was about to cry.

"All of you have superpowers." He said bitterly. "All I have is super fats." It took everything Cyborg had not to laugh at his friend.

Just then, Starfire walked into the room, looking very happy. She had left the room to answer the door and she was now smiling from ear to ear. A familiar blonde girl entered the room causing both Cyborg and Robin to gasp.

"Terra." Said Robin coldly after he had gotten over the initial shock. Like Raven, he was quite slow to trust those who had betrayed it once.

"Robin!" she said cheerfully, pretending not to notice that he now looked like a brown bear before hibernation. "Cyborg! It's really good to see you guys again!"

"How did you get here?" he demanded.

"I flew here on a rock." She said scratching her head.

"No, I mean how did you get your memories back." Robin snapped.

"Oh, that. Well, one day our old history teacher got sick, so she went on leave and a new teacher came to our school. Since she wanted to know us better, she made us do a project about our histories and ourselves. For the first time I went home and I tried to find my baby pictures and stuff but there were none. So my friend suggested that I go to this fortuneteller, who could not only see the future but the past as well. At first I didn't want to, but I knew nothing about myself and I had a project to do, so I went. This fortuneteller fellow told me that the people I'm currently living with are not my real parents and that I'm actually a princess who can move the earth. That was all he could tell me, but after he mentioned the princess and the earth thing, everything suddenly came back to me."

"Who exactly is this fortunetelling guy?" asked Robin curiously.

"Oh, he's just some guy who owns this dark looking shop near my school."

"So you can control your powers?" asked Robin.

"Yeah!" she grinned happily. "I can remember everything now."

"Why did ya come here?" demanded Cyborg.

"Cuz! I now remember that you guys are part of my past. Besides, I wanted to see Beast Boy."

"He's upstairs." Said Robin shortly. "Star, take Terra upstairs to see Beast Boy."

* * *

After the two girls pranced out, Cyborg immediately got to work researching Terra's story. They did a check on her school and found that the history teacher who taught Terra had been diagnosed with stage three breast cancer and that she had recently been replaced. While Cyborg went out to check about the fortuneteller, Robin returned to the gym. Simply because he could not lose his fat did not mean that he should not exercise.

* * *

Meanwhile, Cyborg went to Terra's school and began looking for a fortuneteller's shop. He very quickly found it, since it was exactly as Terra had described it. He had left the house with his holographic ring, so he stepped inside as a normal human.

"Welcome to Gregory's fortune telling shop!" Said a gothic looking girl in Raven's monotone. "Have a seat." She continued before motioning to a chair. Cyborg sat down and waited for the fortuneteller to arrive. When he did, Cyborg was stunned to see that he was not dressed in the way he thought that a fortuneteller would dress. He was dressed in a plain white tee and a pair of blue jeans.

"Umm... Is it true that you can also tell people about their pasts?" Cyborg asked curiously.

"Yes." The fortuneteller said coolly.

"Well, tell me something about my past!" Exclaimed Cyborg excitedly.

"You had an accident that almost killed you." Replied the fortuneteller after he had placed his hands on his crystal ball. "So your father replaced your body parts with metallic ones, Cyborg." Cyborg took a deep breath. This was just too weird. Did the guy know that he was wearing his holographic ring? "After your father created you, several mad businessmen threatened to hurt you if he didn't use the technology he created to save you to create robotic armies for them. So your father was forced to go into hiding and take on a new identity to avoid helping them."

Cyborg took another deep breath. Although his accident was no secret, what happened to his father after he had created him was. He had told no one - not even the other titans - about his father's fate. Since they never asked about what happened to his father, Cyborg never volunteered any information.

"But no matter how many secret identities your father took on, those men always tracked him down by following you with magnets and metal detectors." Cyborg began to feel dizzy. Being constantly trailed by evil men was a childhood event that he did his best to suppress. "Because you wanted to protect your father from those men, you ran away as soon as you turned sixteen and you haven't contacted him since. Then you found the titans and they became your family." The fortuneteller finished with a pleased smile on his face. "Now, would you like to hear your fortune?" He asked.

"No!" Cried Cyborg as he hastily jumped up. Throwing down some money on the table, he dashed out of the fortuneteller's shop as fast as he could and sprinted all the way home, tears streaming down his one human eye.

* * *

Robin dismounted the exercise bike and wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead. His whole body ached and he longed to lie down to rest. He looked down at his body with disdain. He could not even see toes. Now he knew what it was like to be a pregnant woman. Standing in front of the wall-sized mirror in the gym, Robin critically evaluated himself. Gone were his finely carved abs and his six-pack. Gone were those muscular arms and legs. Gone were his fine physique and chiseled jawline. He looked like a fat, pudgy baby. With a sigh, Robin turned to leave the gym when Cyborg came dashing in.

"Robin!" He cried. "Terra was telling the truth! This guy really can tell you stuff about your past!"

"Is that so?" Asked Robin thoughtfully.

"So now that Terra's telling the truth, what are we gonna do?" Demanded Cyborg. Before Robin could respond, Starfire poked her head into the gym.

"Terra will leave now!" She announced sadly, before staring innocently at the two.

"We're coming!" called Robin as he waddled to the door.

"Bye guys! It was nice to see you again!" said Terra cheerfully as she prepared to leave.

"Oh, goodbye friend!" cried Starfire reaching out for a hug. Terra quickly backed away.

"The last time you hugged me, you rearranged my organs." She said nervously, before looking at Robin with pleading eyes.

"Star, you can always hug Terra some other time." He said firmly. Disappointed, Starfire contented herself with a wave as Terra flew off on the same rock that she had come on. "Titans, get inside." Robin ordered. "We need to have a serious talk."


	10. The Troubled Titans

After Terra left, Starfire carried Robin up the stairs since climbing up on his own hurt his knees. The remaining titans gathered in the med bay so that Beast Boy could join in the team meeting. Beast Boy paid no attention to them. His mind was still reeling from when he had met Terra. The moment he saw her and she called out his name, something weird changed within him. The rest of Terra's visit was just a blur in his mind. He could not remember a single thing she said. All that he could remember was that the girl he once idolized had returned and that she idolized him. Beast Boy knew that he loved Raven now, yet seeing Terra made him wonder if he had any lingering feelings for her.

* * *

"Beast Boy!" yelled Robin sternly. "Have you been paying attention?"

"Yeah, BB! Stop spacing out!" exclaimed Cyborg. In the past half hour, Beast Boy had apparently not heard a word that they said.

"Heh." Smiled Beast Boy nervously as he was jolted back into reality. "Sorry. What were we talking about?"

"We were thinking about reinstating Terra back in the team." Sighed Robin.

"What?" exclaimed Beast Boy. "But we promised Raven we wouldn't replace her!"

"Let's not think about it as 'replacing' Raven. We're merely adding a new member to the team." Reasoned Robin.

"We're adding a new member to replace her! What happened to not breaking promises?" cried Beast Boy, making up his mind in that instant that Raven was much more important to him than anything else.

"Look, we get it if you still have feelings for Terra and it hurts you to always be around her. But the team needs her at this point." Robin said pragmatically.

"It's not about me and Terra! Trust me, I've gotten over her!" Beast Boy protested.

"If that's the case you should be alright with having her on the team." Concluded Robin, who knew that arguments with Beast Boy were usually easy to win.

"Why do we need her anyway?" cried Beast Boy, feeling the hurt of betrayal almost as though he were Raven herself.

"Beast Boy!" cried Robin angrily. "You won't be able to get out of bed for the next six months! I'm so fat I've lost my agility and my ability to practice all forms of martial arts! Cyborg runs out of power quickly unless we drive ourselves crazy working out! Nobody knows when Raven will return and Starfire is the only one who is actually mission-ready! How can you expect her to stand alone against Slade?"

"How do you know Terra won't betray us again?" yelled Beast Boy hysterically.

"Her story held up." Said Cyborg calmly. Unlike Robin, he actually knew why Beast Boy was standing up for Raven and opposing Terra's reinstatement to the team. "Besides, she eventually realized that she did wrong and turned herself to stone to save the city."

Beast Boy was silent for a moment. He knew that what Cyborg said was true, yet he really wanted the team to honor their promise to Raven.

"When Raven comes back, she'll still have a place on the team." Robin assured him.

"Where will Terra stay if she joins us?" asked Beast Boy.

"Raven's room." Answered Robin instinctively.

"Aha!" cried Beast Boy. "You're replacing Raven with Terra!"

"Beast Boy!" exclaimed Robin indignantly. He had not expected so much resistance from him. He decided to finalize things quickly before things got out of hand. "Let's take a vote. Who votes to ask Terra to join the team?

"I vote for Terra!" cried Starfire happily.

"As do I," echoed Robin.

"I vote against it!" Beast Boy said stubbornly. Everyone turned to Cyborg. The final decision rested on his shoulders.

"If you don't vote for Terra, Starfire and I will work out in our rooms." Said Robin.

"Man! That's blackmail!" cried Cyborg indignantly. Deep in his heart, he cared for Raven and he wanted to vote for her. However, his trip to the fortuneteller had shaken him up. "Fine, I vote to ask Terra to join the team." He said defeated. The hurt look in Beast Boy's eyes was too much for him to bear. Immediately, Cyborg got up and left the room. He did not want his friends to see how upset he was.

* * *

Robin contacted Terra as soon as he could and asked her to join the titans. The others listened as Robin put her on loudspeaker.

"Why do you want me back?" she asked curiously.

"Well, we need your help." Replied Robin cautiously.

"Help for what?" asked Terra, perplexed.

"We're fighting a powerful villain." Robin hinted.

"I heard." Said Terra. "Is that why you guys got kicked out of titans tower? Did you lose or something?"

"We're fighting Slade." Robin said finally, since it was obvious that she could not see what he was getting at.

"Slade?" cried Terra, the anger in her voice evident. "I thought I killed him with lava!" she yelled.

"He may or may not have been resurrected?" said Robin as he and the others cringed..

"I'm in!" she cried furiously. "When can I join?"

"You can join right now." Replied Robin with a pleased smile as Starfire jumped for joy. Beast Boy on the other hand wore a mutinous expression on his face. Cyborg stayed very calm. This was a very delicate situation. He knew the team needed help, but he did not know if this was the right move or not.

* * *

Terra spent the next month training with the titans. Her fighting skills were a bit rusty, but with practice, she improved considerably.

Robin had Cyborg move Raven's things to the basement to make way for Terra. Beast Boy had repeatedly suggested that Robin and Starfire move in together so that Terra could have one of their rooms and Raven would have one in case she returned, but Robin adamantly refused. He never told the others this, but before Slade had supposedly released him, he had promised him that now that he was so fat, he was no longer worthy of Starfire and that she wouldn't love him anymore. He feared that sharing a room with her would highlight to her how fat he now was. Because of that, Robin no longer wore his fitting uniform, even when Cyborg made larger ones for him. Instead, he chose to wear baggy and loose clothes that made him look thinner when he wore them. Robin was painfully aware that he was no longer handsome and dashing and that Starfire was still as beautiful and slender as ever. As time passed, Robin steadily began to develop extreme self-esteem problems.

Unknown to Robin, his relationship with Starfire was worsening because of his problems with his image. He no longer wanted to hold her hand because he was afraid she would notice how pudgy his hands were. He no longer wanted to snuggle up beside her on the couch during a movie because he feared that she would feel the extent of his obesity. He no longer wanted to hug her – let alone kiss her - because he feared that she would feel his ginormous potbelly. Starfire felt her boyfriend pulling away from her and it bothered her greatly that Robin no longer showered her with as much affection as before. She gradually became confused as to whether he loved her or not and bit by bit, her powers waned.

Beast Boy too was suffering emotionally. He knew deep in his heart that he loved Raven, yet when Terra threw herself at him, he could not bring himself to bluntly reject her. Beast Boy wanted to be upfront with her about his feelings, but was afraid that if he rejected Terra too directly, she would leave the team because of him, inciting Robin's wrath against him. He had always loved attention from women and now that an incredibly beautiful girl like Terra was practically begging to be his girlfriend, Beast Boy found himself being increasingly conflicted. He vowed to remain loyal to Raven, yet Terra temptation came knocking on his door every single day. He became more withdrawn and lost the sparkle in his eyes. Cyborg noted that Beast Boy's recovery was becoming increasingly slow and he knew it was because of the stress his friend was under.

Cyborg himself felt his stress levels mounting. He felt indebted to Robin, Starfire and Terra as they were the ones who worked out to keep him running and Robin took full advantage of this; like when he used it against Cyborg to make him vote for Terra. Cyborg felt more and more like an actual robot with each passing day.

Cyborg also missed Raven terribly. Her maturity, wisdom and gravity brought a sense of balance to the team, something the happy-go-lucky Terra was unable to accomplish. Terra deeply upset the group dynamics, yet they had no choice but to accept her, since they needed her help to fight Slade.

* * *

As the days passed, Robin increasingly hounded Cyborg to find an antidote for his condition. This grated Cyborg's metaphorical nerves. Robin bluntly told him that if he did not create the antidote within a month, he would get the others to stop working out to shut down Cyborg. Robin felt that all Cyborg needed was a little push to find the antidote and that his inability to find one was because he was lazy.

Cyborg saw things very differently. Robin was his friend and he did wish to help him. However, no matter how hard he tried, he was unable to create the antidote. He tried every alternative he could think of and even considered liposuction. He immediately scrapped that idea when he realized that the substance that coated each fat molecule was sticky, sticking the fat molecule securely to other normal cells. This meant the liposuction would probably kill Robin by sucking out every cell in his body. Defeated, frustrated and stressed, Cyborg worked himself into a frenzy trying to create the antidote. He became very terse and goal-orientated, very much like the robot that he was not.

* * *

And so it was that everyone in the house was in a foul mood. Beast Boy was caught in a love triangle with Raven and Terra making him very confused. Starfire sensed that she and Robin were drifting apart and that broke her heart. Robin was so stressed about his image that he became extremely self-conscious, choosing to lock himself in his room where no one could see him when he was not busy hounding Cyborg for the antidote. Frustrated that all doors where being slammed in his face with regards to the antidote, Cyborg himself was extremely upset. Terra on the other hand, was upset because Beast Boy now ignored her. The tense atmosphere in the house made life very unbearable. Finally, one of them snapped.

"That's it!" cried Cyborg as he threw the syringe in his hand to the ground. Stalking over to Robin, he looked down at him and stared him down. "You've been treating me like your robotic slave for the past few months! Do ya actually think that I do not want to find the antidote as much as ya do? Ya keep saying that I am not trying hard enough when all I've done is to try! Ya keep blackmailing me with the whole power thi- ya know what? Just shut me down! I think I'd be much happier that way!" he spat out.

"Cyborg, I didn't mean it like that." Said Robin, quite taken aback by his outburst.

"Didn't mean it? Didn't mean it! Is that all ya can come up with? I'm sick and tired of being ordered around like a robot! Is that what ya see me as, a robot? A robot that works nonstop to earn money to feed ya and to cure ya?" yelled Cyborg. Starfire and Terra entered the main room, watching with frightened eyes. From the med bay, Beast Boy could hear their shouts.

"No! I see you as a friend!" shouted Robin in reply. "Now would you please shut up? Beast Boy is upstairs sleeping!"

"Ya don't see me as a friend! Ya see me as a robot that does your bidding! Even as you're trying to tell me that I'm your friend, ya order me around!" Cyborg had enough. "Ya know what, I quit!" he yelled. "If you guys don't want to work out to create power for me, fine! I QUIT!" he cried before stomping out of the main room. Terra looked frightened while Starfire began to cry. Robin just stared angrily at Cyborg's retreating figure. He still thought that Cyborg was just plain lazy.

* * *

Following Cyborg's outburst, things became even worse. Terra, Beast Boy and Starfire begged him repeatedly not to leave but he had made up his mind. Only when Starfire sat outside his bedroom door and cried for close to six hours begging him to stay did Cyborg relent out of pity for her.

Robin started working out in his room and he ordered the others to do the same. Being his girlfriend and still being in love with him, Starfire complied, despite the fact that she was the one who persuaded Cyborg to stay. But Terra did not and for that, Cyborg was grateful.

For her defiance, Terra's relationship with Robin worsened, causing her to be ostracized by Robin and sadly, Starfire as well. Starfire shed many tears over the situation as waves of tension crashed against the house. The titans had truly gone from being in trouble to being troubled.


	11. Slade Strikes Hard

As the months passed, Slade continued to terrorize the city. Without power, law enforcement was greatly hampered. Money mysteriously vanished from bank vaults and jewelry stores were ransacked overnight. Crime rapidly became rampant in the once orderly and law-abiding city.

Now that winter had passed, Cyborg no longer had to depend on the others to work out in the gym for power as the new solar panels that he had installed met his needs nicely. Beast Boy was slowly but surely growing stronger. Although Cyborg was still unable to find the antidote, Robin had learned how to perform several simple martial arts moves. His relationship with Starfire remained strained, with the couple spending less and less time together. Terra went out of her way to ignore Beast Boy. She was still angry with him for telling her so bluntly that he no longer loved her. Though some of the tension within group had partially dissipated, it was still there.

* * *

"Titans! Emergency!" yelled Robin into his communicator. Immediately, all the other save Beast Boy dashed to the main room.

"What's going on?" asked Terra as she skidded in with Starfire and Cyborg behind her.

"Slade." Growled Robin. Looking up at the screen, they saw live surveillance footage of Sladebots destroying the docks. The five members of the STRIVE were desperately fighting them off. They sure looked as though they could use some help.

"Titans, go!" yelled Robin. They were about to dash out of the main room when Beast Boy hobbled in.

"Let me go too!" he begged. "You guys will need all the help you can get."

"Beast Boy, you're in no condition to fight!" insisted Robin. "Don't worry, we can handle it!"

With that, the others blazed off. Beast Boy sighed and looked at the floor. He hated feeling so useless.

"I'll get the T-Car!" yelled Cyborg as he ran to the garage. Hastily, everyone buckled themselves in as they raced down to the docks.

* * *

When they got there, they found the docks in chaos. The STRIVE were fighting a losing battle against the Sladebots.

"Titans, go!" yelled Robin again. They were about to charge forward when everything stopped. The Sladebots stopped moving and dropped the bodies of Gizmo and See-More to the ground. Kyd Wykkyd was nowhere to be seen. From the midst of the Sladebots, a tall figure with an orange mask emerged.

"Oh, hello titans." Slade said in his usual voice.

"Slade!" hissed Robin, rage seething through his clogged arteries.

"How disappointing." said Slade as he shook his head gravely. "You took so long to get here. Where is your dark friend who can teleport you from place to place?"

"She's not dark!" cried a familiar voice. The others whirled around to see Beast Boy jogging towards them.

"Beast Boy!" cried Robin. "I thought I told you to stay at home!"

"I must help!" cried Beast Boy in return.

"Your spirit is admirable. It's too bad I'm going to have to kill you all." Said Slade with a chuckle.

"No you won't!" screamed Terra as she hurled a huge boulder at him. Slade deftly moved out of the way as it flew harmlessly past him.

Immediately, the titans began attacking with all they had. Beast Boy morphed into a T-Rex and charged at Slade. With one well-aimed stone at his chest, Slade knocked the wind out of Beast Boy. He immediately morphed into his human form and collapsed, clutching his chest in pain. Cyborg unleashed his sonic cannon and fired a blast at Slade. Slade nimbly dodged it, before turning around and fleeing.

"That's right!" yelled Cyborg as he chased after him. "Ya better flee from the titans!" Slade slowed down, dodging Cyborg's sonic blasts with the greatest of ease. Cyborg kept closing in on him and when he had come close enough, Slade whipped out a tool that looked like a highly amped cattle prod. He jabbed Cyborg with it and watched as the robotic titan's systems fried one by one. Finally, Cyborg was completely shorted out. With several well-aimed kicks, Slade dismembered him, sending his parts flying in all directions.

* * *

Meanwhile, Robin was running laboriously in the direction Slade had gone with Starfire beside him.

"Why don't you fly or something?" cried Robin in frustration.

"I cannot do that." She replied sadly. "I have no powers left."

"What?" yelled Robin. "What do you mean by no powers?"

"Robin, I'm so confused!" Starfire cried out as tears rolled down her cheeks. "And you know my emotions do the affecting of my powers!"

"What is it that's confusing you?" he yelled again.

"Robin, do you love me?" she asked as she stopped running.

"Of course I do!" he responded. "What makes you think otherwise?"

"You say that you do love me but you do not act it." She said simply.

"That's ridiculous!" yelled Robin.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Slade, but it was too late. Slade landed a solid punch, knocking her out instantaneously. Poor Starfire did not stand a chance. Screaming in anger, Robin charged at Slade with his staff.

"Robin. I see you have become fat and slow." Said Slade as he easily dodged or countered Robin's every move.

"It's all your fault!" screamed Robin between gritted teeth.

"Or is it yours?" asked Slade as he swiftly blocked a blow before landing a punch. "The only reason why Starfire has no powers is because of you, Robin. You've confused her so much that she is now defenseless." Continued Slade as he kicked Robin away from him. As Robin tried to catch his breath, Slade repeatedly stomped on Starfire's motionless body.

"No!" cried Robin as he charged at Slade again. Slade twisted out of his reach, before grabbing him and throwing him against the wall.

"You leave us alone!" cried another voice from behind. Through swollen eyes, Robin saw Terra advancing towards Slade. She had spent the past few minutes trying to rouse Beast Boy but her efforts were in vain.

"Terra. How nice to see you again." Slade said coolly.

"Slade!" she roared as she picked up several large boulders with her powers and hurled them at him. Slade nimbly leapt out of the way, looking not the least bit perturbed.

Seething with rage, Terra jumped onto a rock and flew towards Slade, the ground cracking beneath him. Slade began to realize that she meant business and jumped from the docks onto a small yacht. Ripping huge slabs of concrete from the road, Terra slammed them into the yacht. As it began to sink under the added weight, Slade jumped off and dove into the water. Reaching below the water's surface, Terra pulled up several large rocks from the seabed. As Slade tried to swim away, rocks smashed into him from every direction.

"Once and for all!" screamed Terra as she sent another barrage of rocks in Slade's direction. Hastily swimming back to shore, Slade climbed back onto the docks only to be crushed by several tons of rock. "Take that!" screamed Terra as she heaped more rock upon Slade. Slade burst out from the midst of the rock pile and charged at her. Having been his apprentice once, Terra expected it and smashed another dripping wet boulder into his face the moment Slade emerged from the pile. Rejuvenated by her courage and efforts, Robin grabbed his staff and joined the fight.

"Terra!" he cried as he smacked at a stunned Slade with his staff. "Think you can get us to some lava?"

"You got it!" cried Terra as she tore up a huge slab of concrete, lifting herself, Robin and Slade into the air. Realizing what was going on, Slade jumped up and attacked. Robin reached for his new utility belt, which he had equipped with new tools, having lost much of his agility.

Grabbing a stun gun, he fired only to have Slade dodge out of the way. To Robin's dismay, Slade jumped off the rock they were on. Fortunately, Terra was one step ahead of him and caught him with another rock. They were already quite far in the ocean and knowing that it would be impossible to keep Slade on the rock for very long, Terra decided to utilize the power of the ocean instead of the volcano she was planning to bring them to.

As the rocks swooped down, Slade's rock flipped over just as he jumped off intending to swim for it. However, the rock dashed into him and began pushing him deeper towards the seabed, which was thousands of meters deep. Robin watched as Terra pushed Slade down with one hand and controlled the rocks that she had brought with them from land in the other. Furiously, she directed the rocks down to Slade's falling figure.

"Hang on Terra! I'm getting the air bubble!" said Robin as he pulled out the latest gadget that Cyborg had created. Robin threw the small blue orb onto the rock, splitting it apart. Immediately, a glasslike air bubble enveloped them. Terra plunged the bubble and the rock into the ocean.

Looking down, Robin saw Slade being pushed downwards by a barrage of rocks. He kept trying to climb onto another rock only to be pushed down by another one. Robin glanced over at Terra and saw that she was really concentrating, so he remained silent. He now knew full well what she was trying to do and did his best to help. Taking a torchlight, he pointed it down at Slade so that Terra could see him. The deeper they went, the darker it got.

"Thanks!" she said gratefully as another boulder rammed into Slade, driving him even further into the deep. "How deep can we go with this air bubble?" she asked.

"Down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench." Replied Robin with a smile. Already, he could see that Slade was having trouble breathing with a device in his hand, which looked like a breathalyzer. As they sank even deeper, it got even darker. Without a warning, Slade was crushed into nothingness by the pressure of the surrounding water. They watched calmly as Slade's mask flew upwards bounced off the air bubble. They stood there silently, watching the water turn red. Having ascertained that it was all over, Terra hastily began to head up to the surface. She feared that the rock might disintegrate and at such pressures, neither of them stood a chance.

* * *

Back at the docks, Robin and Terra landed at an unused part of the dock that had not been destroyed.

"Great job, Terra!" cried Robin with a smile. She smiled in return and ran with him to check up on the others. They found Beast Boy lying on the floor, groaning in pain. Cyborg was beside him and it was obvious to them that he had lost most of his robotic parts. Starfire lay beside the two, still unconscious. Robin and Terra dashed up to the three with triumphant smiles.

"We did it! We-"

"-Conquered the bad guy!" Robin whirled around to see Gizmo and the other members of the STRIVE talking to the press. Having finished his sentence for him, Gizmo and the group proceeded to take credit for Slade's defeat.

"How can this be?" cried Robin. "Do you see that?" he yelled turning to Terra, who quickly pulled him behind a container that had survived. "They're taking credit for something they didn't do! WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE THE GOOD GUYS! NOT THEM!" Robin was livid.

"Shhh! Calm down!" Terra shushed him. "If you act so immature in front of the press it'd only reinforce the idea that we're too young and not mature enough to protect the city!"

Realizing that she was right, Robin turned and returned to the others, considerably calmer.

"Get us home." He said brokenly as he knelt down in front of Starfire. Nodding quietly, Terra ripped up a huge slab of concrete from the docks and flew them back home.

* * *

Back at the tower, Beast Boy and Starfire were placed in the cramped med bay. As Terra did her best to care for them, Robin tried his best to repair Cyborg and to restart him. He tinkered around in Cyborg's room for hours, desperately trying to find a solution. He even tried searching for Cyborg's blueprints hoping that they would provide some answers as to how Robin could repair Cyborg. Not knowing that Bumblebee had read Cyborg's blueprints, it did not occur to Robin to seek help from her.

Meanwhile, Terra and Starfire were in the med bay doing their best to keep Beast Boy alive. Starfire had came to several hours earlier and was now desperately reading medical books along with Terra. They had tried to get Beast Boy admitted to a hospital, however there was no space for him even though his condition was critical. When the city was suffering from a power outage and the power generated from solar panels was not enough to provide power to large apartment buildings, many turned to candles for lighting. The use of candles resulted in many fires and numerous injuries.

On top of that, the lack of fuel meant that critically ill people often got to the hospitals very late, worsening their conditions. As a result, all of the hospitals in Jump City were now at maximum capacity, leaving Beast Boy's life in the hands of Terra and Starfire.

* * *

"How's he doing?" asked Robin quietly as he entered the med bay.

"He's very weak." Replied Terra, not looking up from the book.

"What's that you have there?" he asked wonderingly.

"It's a medical book." Snapped Terra, annoyed by the distraction.

"It's Raven's book." Said Starfire as she walked over to her boyfriend.

"What? You went through Raven's things?" Robin screeched. "Do you have any idea what she's going to do to you - and all of us for that matter - when she returns?"

"Do not do the freaking out, Robin." Replied Starfire plainly. "I did not go through the things of Raven. The brain of me is not that stupid." Terra chuckled quietly.

"How did you know she has them? How did you find these?" He wondered, eyeing the mountain of books.

"I went with Raven to buy the books of medicine because she rarely wants to do the shopping. When we were doing the moving to here, I saw a glorious brown chest with the word 'Medicus' on it. That's why I knew exactly where the books of medicine are. All we had to do is look for the brown chest and hey pasta! We found it!"

"It's 'hey presto'." Terra giggled.

"Why would Raven have medical books?" asked Robin curiously.

"She thought this knowledge would help her do the healing better." Responded Starfire.

"If only Raven were here. She could heal Beast Boy." Sighed Robin as he walked over to Beast Boy. He looked awful. His face was black and bruised and he had broken his arms and legs again. In fact, it seemed as though Beast Boy had broken every bone in his body. His breathing was shallow and Robin could tell from the way he breathed that his lung injury had been aggravated. "I told him not to come." muttered Robin as he clenched his fists in frustration. "I shouldn't have let him fight!"

"It's not your fault, Robin." Replied Starfire as she put one hand on his shoulder.

"Yes, it is." Cried Robin between gritted teeth. "Some kind of leader I am!"

"No, you are a great leader." Replied Starfire. "Your leadership made Beast Boy so loyal to the team that he was willing to do the fighting though he was broken."

"You mean 'injured'?" asked Terra from her place on the floor.

"Yes." Starfire replied as she hugged Robin from behind. He allowed her to hug him for several seconds, before pulling away.

"I just hope he survives the night." Robin said sadly before leaving the med bay and retreating into the darkness of the hall.

_Elsewhere in the city, the real Slade watched. _


	12. Two Sleeping Titans

Just as Robin had hoped, Beast Boy survived the night. However, he remained in a deep coma. Terra finally ascertained that he must have sustained some brain damage of some sort. One could jab a needle into his arm and he would not even flinch. He simply lay there day after day, silent and unmoving.

Meanwhile, things were finally going back to normal in the outside world. Shipments of oil came in once more and apart from the solar panels on the roofs of many homes and buildings, everything looked the same as they used to be.

* * *

Every day, Robin and Starfire worked on trying to repair the damage that Slade had wrecked on Cyborg.. Because of what Brother Blood had done, Cyborg had memorized copies of his blueprints and destroyed them after that. Though he did not want any villains exploiting his technology, it also meant that Robin and Starfire had no access to it. Frustrated beyond reason, the three titans could only watch helplessly as their two friends lay in silence.

* * *

A month after the battle with Slade, the titans were getting increasingly desperate. They brought Beast Boy to many neurologists only to be sent home with no solutions or treatments. It was obvious that trauma to his brain must have caused the part of the brain responsible for cognition to shut down temporarily, but there was no cure for it and medical experts could only offer them some tips on Beast Boy's care and nothing more. All they could do was to watch and wait.

But Robin was sick of waiting. He was sick of standing around doing nothing. He began to try to track down Cyborg's father, hoping that the man who had created him once could do so once again. However, no matter how many times he went through city records, he could not find a single person in the city related to Cyborg. Before long, Robin came up with a plan to find Cyborg's father.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Terra stated as she glared at Robin. "You want to compare Cyborg's DNA with that of every single African American man above thirty-five in the city? Do you have any idea how long that'll take?"

"We could strike it lucky!" Robin insisted. "It's our only option!"

"But Robin, how do we get every of Africa's American men in the city to do the test?" asked Starfire.

"Yeah, how?" asked Terra, raising an eyebrow. "What if he's dead? That could explain why he disappeared."

"No. I've got the feeling that he changed his name to escape from villains," replied Robin. "Cyborg's bionics are amazing. The more I try to repair him, the more awed I am by what keeps him alive. Whoever his father is, he was a real genius and such genius would obviously be exploited by villains."

"Okay. But that doesn't explain why Cyborg doesn't contact his Dad or why he doesn't have a single picture of his own father anywhere in his room." Interjected Terra, who had now taken Raven's place as the skeptic of the team.

"Besides, everyone in the city still hates us, yes?" asked Starfire. "Would not Cyborg's father not want to be his father now that everyone in the city hates him and will conceivably hate his father too? If Cyborg's father does not wish to be hated for being his father, then he will try not to be Cyborg's father so that no one knows who is Cyborg's father and no one can hate Cyborg's father!" she said in one breath. She wore a big smile, proud of having figured it all out. Robin and Terra blinked at her repeatedly. They stared at Starfire for a whole minute, until Robin finally figured out what Starfire was trying to say.

"She means that since everyone in the city hates us titans, Cyborg's father might not want to be recognized as Cyborg's official parent lest he be hated as well." He said turning to Terra to see if she understood.

"Ohhhhh… I see." Nodded Terra.

"Wait a minute!" cried Robin. "Even if the whole city hates us, we are still famous. People still want to know what we're up to even though they hate us!"

"Well?" asked Terra, her interest aroused by Robin's excited tone.

"We could release an official titans' report on the current state of our team! The media will happily broadcast it to show the whole world what's happened to the mighty titans and we'll be on the front pages of all the newspapers! They'll have so much fun making fun of us that they'll give us a lot of publicity! Practically everybody will be talking about us!"

"And?" asked Terra again, slightly bored with Robin's wordy delivery.

"If we say that Cyborg is in disrepair, his father might just hear about it on the radio, or on the TV, or read about it in the newspapers or maybe his friends might talk to him about the teen titans!"

"So?" cried Terra, her patience spent.

"Well, Cyborg's father might come looking for us if he truly cares about the well-being of his son! Maybe then he could fix Cyborg who could in turn help Beast Boy!"

"That's not a bad plan." Said Terra wonderingly as she pondered about it.

"I know!" cried Robin as he brushed past Starfire and ran to the computer. He began typing at breakneck speed, making frightening amounts of grammatical errors along the way. This could be their only chance to get Cyborg fixed.

* * *

That evening, the remaining titans gathered in the main room to watch the evening news. They were exceedingly glad to see a large picture of them next to the newscaster. Well, all except Terra. The picture used was an old one of Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy and Raven. Unhappy to be excluded, she silently sulked as the newscaster began with his nightly report.

"The four-hundred pound leader of the teen titans, Robin, has just released a statement to the press about the current situation of the teen titans." Robin's face turned red as Terra began to laugh. "The statement has been released for reasons unknown, but it has been speculated that the titans are trying to get their old jobs back as the city's official heroes, despite having proved to be completely incompetent."

This time, all three of them began to sulk. The media seemed to take pride in insulting them in the worst possible way.

"Only two titans are currently fit and ready for duty, namely Starfire and Terra. Robin claims to be fit, but his bulging stomach says otherwise. The statement also states that Beast Boy has been injured in the line of duty - even though the titans are not on duty – and is currently in a coma. Cyborg has also apparently sustained grave injuries in the line of nonexistent duty and is currently in complete disrepair. Robin states that the team is doing their best to restore him to his original state but it could take years and an engineering degree. Finally, the last original member of the titans, Raven, is currently on leave for unknown reasons. Robin only goes as far as to say that she will eventually return to rejoin the titans, though I highly doubt it, being a demon and all." The newscaster just had to add his two cents worth. The newscaster's statement made the angered the three, especially Starfire.

"Raven is not a demon!" cried Starfire as Robin grabbed her and turned her face away from the TV. With Cyborg gone, he could not afford to have her destroy it with her eye beams.

"We know." Said Robin comfortingly as he put his arms around her. He trusted that Raven would return in a matter of time.

* * *

The very next morning, the titans were going about their usual morning routine when they heard someone anxiously knocking on the door. Robin made his way to the door and cautiously looked at the small screen mounted onto the wall. After the incident with Beast Boy, Cyborg had installed the screen along with a camera on the front porch so that they could see who was at the door. He saw a very flustered African American man in his mid-forties outside in a pair of dirty blue overalls. He had in his hand a large toolbox and had parked his van on the driveway.

"Peterson's Plumbing." Robin said as he read the letters on the van. "Terra? We didn't ask for a plumber, did we?"

"No." She said looking up from her magazine. "Why?"

"There's a plumber at the door." Robin said as he hesitated for a moment. Finally, he opened it.

"Mornin'! I'm from Peterson's Plumbing and we received a call last night from this address." The plumber said with a wink. Robin stared at him for a second, before quickly realizing who he was.

"Please, come in." He said motioning to the living room. "It's the bathroom on the second floor." He added before closing the door behind him. Terra and Starfire stood and watched quizzically, slightly amused by the plumber that they had not called for.

"Thanks!" The plumber said gratefully as he put his toolbox down. Now Terra and Starfire were truly perplexed. "Perhaps some introduction is in order." Said the plumber with a smile. "My name is Silas Stone and I am Cyborg's father. Where's Cyborg?"

"I'll show you to the room of Cyborg." Offered Starfire thoughtfully after the initial shock had worn off. She knew that it would be hard for Robin to show him up the stairs.

"Thanks!" He said again and practically sprinted up the stairs after her.

"This is the room of-" began Starfire but she never was allowed to finish.

"Victor!" Cried his father running to his charging table. Robin was right. Cyborg was in complete and utter disrepair and it seemed apparent that Robin's efforts to repair Cyborg had only made things worse. "Don't worry son, I'll fix you." His father said brokenly as he began to search through his toolbox. Sensing their need to be alone, Starfire retreated out of the room.

* * *

Robin paced around the kitchen, deep in thought. Two hours had passed since Cyborg's father had arrived at the house. Terra was cooking dinner since it was her turn and Starfire was watching her, eagerly offering her input.

"This food will be simply glorious if you would just add some Panagflorg tentacles!" She cried as she jumped up and down.

"For the last time Starfire, I'm cooking normal, human food!" Roared Terra as she mashed some potatoes.

"But if you were to add just a sprinkle of Vlogart skin..."

"I'm not gonna!" Yelled Terra.

"But every time I cook my dish of specialty Robin eats it! If Robin can do the feasting on Tamaranean food, surely you can too!" Cried Starfire.

"Really, Robin?" Demanded Terra as she turned to face him. "Really? Robin? Hello?" She asked as she waved the entire bowl of mashed potatoes in front of him.

"Robin!" Cried Starfire as she flew over to him. "Is he dead?" She screamed as she tried to search for a pulse by putting her entire hand over his heart.

"I'm not dead." Robin said bluntly as he pushed Starfire off him. "I'm just trying to figure out what to do with Cyborg's dad."

"Aha. So you're worried that those reporters out there will notice that this plumber has been in the house for two hours." Said Terra as she turned back to her cooking.

"Exactly. Before long they'll figure out that he's probably here for another reason." Sighed Robin.

"Cannot the father of Cyborg just let everyone know he is the father of Cyborg?" Asked Starfire innocently.

"No." Replied Robin as he adjusted his mask. "We have to help him keep his identity a secret. Someone like Slade could easily exploit his skills. I'm pretty sure that's why he came to the house as a plumber."

"So… What are we going to do?" Demanded Terra as she turned to the stove.

"We need a distraction to make the photographers leave." Said Robin eyeing the girls.

"I'm not dressing up in a bunny suit with Starfire to sing songs to sick children in hospitals." Stated Terra as she cracked several eggs.

"Since when did you turn into Raven?" Groaned Robin. "Can't you just do something with Star? It's for Cyborg's dad."

"I didn't turn into Raven. She and I are two different people. She probably won't wear the bunny suit because she finds it childish and stupid. I don't want to wear it because it makes me look fat." Terra said derisively. "No offense." She said glancing Robin. "Why don't you take the fall this time? How about going to a gym in the city?" She smirked.

"Yes, Robin. The last time you wanted to make the paparazzi leave Terra and I had to go shopping and do the fighting of the cats."

"It's called a catfight." Terra corrected her.

"Fine. But what if some of the paps stay behind?" Asked Robin. "It's rare for us to allow anyone who's not part of the team in the house. Surely they'd want to get that down."

"It's just a plumber!" Exclaimed Terra in a highly frustrated tone. "You know what, if you'll do the all cooking and cleaning in this house for the next month, I'll take care of the paps." There was really nothing Terra hated more than housework.

Robin considered her offer for a second. Would he rather go to the gym and have everyone laugh at him or would he rather stay at home and do housework? Finally, he gave in.

"If you can get the paps to leave, I'll do all the housework for a month."

"That includes Starfire's share!" Added Terra firmly.

"Why would you get her out of doing housework as well?" Demanded Robin.

"I need someone to go shopping with me." Replied Terra.

"No, you are not shopping!" Yelled Robin. "None of us work anymore, we need to save as much money as we can!"

"Relax, grandpa! I'm going shopping for a boyfriend." Said Terra with a wink.

"Then why do you want Starfire to go with you?" Screeched Robin. "She already has a boy - I mean, man!"

"I need a second opinion." Said Terra rolling her eyes.

"What about Beast Boy?" Demanded Robin. "I thought you two had a thing?"

"Well, at first I wanted him back, but then he told me that he's already in love with someone else." Terra sighed. "So I decided to just be his friend though I secretly still liked him. Then he started talking about his hopes and dreams for the future and how he wants to have eight kids, one for each letter of his name." Terra shuddered. "I have to be honest though, I don't really feel the spark between us. I did some soul searching and realized that I really don't have any feelings for him anymore. He's probably going to treat me like a baby-making machine if I'm dumb enough to let him, which I'm not. So I'm looking for a boyfriend!" She smiled brightly. Robin's jaw dropped.

"Are you sure you're completely over him and not just looking for a boyfriend to replace him?" Asked Robin suspiciously.

"I loved him last time not because I truly like liked him, but because I felt sorry for him and also grateful to him for accepting me and being so nice to me and such. You know, not many people can love a girl who can cause the earth to swallow them up. So I confused those feelings with love and that was a mistake on my part." Terra admitted. "To be honest, Beast Boy and I are not really right for each other."

Robin nodded slowly. He now understood why Terra no longer spent all her time pandering to Beast Boy's every request. He now understood why Terra no longer jumped with delight at the sound of Beast Boy's name. Things were beginning to make sense now.

"In what way are you and Beast Boy not right for each other?" Asked Robin.

"Before I lost my memories, he was really cute, immature and adorable. When I regained my memories, came back and met him, he was so different. He became so mature. He became so much more like Raven. Or like a professor. Whoever it is, I just can't stand it! He's became such a drag! I blame it on puberty." Said Terra as she took the T-Car's keys off the rack. "You coming?" She asked raising an eyebrow at Starfire.

Starfire nodded happily and ordinarily, Robin would have protested but he was too deep in thought to pay attention to them.

While Robin stared into space, Terra easily enticed all the paps to follow her by driving the T-Car out of the garage with the song Girls Just Want To Have Fun blasting at top volume. This was too good to miss, so they followed them eagerly.

* * *

About ten minutes later, Robin went upstairs to talk to Cyborg's father, who was feverishly doing some rewiring. Together, they came up with a plan. Cyborg's father would leave the house as a plumber, go home to craft the required parts and meet Robin at a designated location the next day, after which Robin would smuggle him into the house.

It seemed like a foolproof plan and having said goodbye to the "plumber", Robin sat down to think once more. He was thinking about what Terra had said about Beast Boy.

_Elsewhere in the city, the real Slade watched._


	13. The Awakening

Cyborg's father worked for several days to get Cyborg's vital systems up and running again. It took many hours of work, but he finally managed to get everything running smoothly. Out of courtesy, he invited the other titans to witness the occasion.

"Where am I?" groaned Cyborg as blinked several times and opened his eyes.

"Victor!" cried his father, overjoyed.

"Dad?" cried Cyborg in amazement. He reached out to hug his father but his arms were nonexistent. He looked down and saw that he was missing all his limbs. His father gladly gave him the hug that he was unable to give. "Dad!" cried Cyborg again. The other titans watched as the father and son duo both burst into tears.

At the sight of the reunion, Starfire began to cry as well. Terra too could not help but wipe away several tears. Robin on the other hand looked stoic. He was determined not to cry in front of Starfire.

"I'm so proud of you!" sobbed his father as he hugged him. "You have no idea how proud I am that my son is a titan!"

"I've missed you." Cried Cyborg. He was not one who was usually given to tears, however this time he could not help himself.

"So have I!" cried his father. "It killed me inside every single day that you ran away to protect me!" Robin decided that now would be a good time for them to take their leave. They could always talk to him later. His plans were thwarted when Cyborg saw them.

"Guys!" he exclaimed. "Ya'll reunited me with my Dad! Thanks a bunch!"

"You're welcome." Said Robin warmly.

"Oh, Cyborg! I am so glad you are no longer dead!" cried Starfire as she ran towards him only to be restrained by Robin and Terra.

"Cyborg is already damaged enough!" gasped Robin. "He doesn't need your powerful hugs to squash him even further!"

Remembering that her displays of affection could sometimes hurt people, Starfire held back.

"Where's BB?" asked Cyborg noticing that only Starfire, Robin and Terra were in the room.

"He's been injured." Said Robin slowly. He was not sure how Cyborg would take it.

"How badly injured?" demanded Cyborg.

"He's dead." Replied Starfire.

"What?" screeched Cyborg. "Are you kidding me?"

"Beast Boy isn't dead!" said Robin hastily. "He's in a coma!"

"No, he's dead!" insisted Starfire. "Just like Cyborg was, Beast Boy is dead!" Cyborg now understood that Starfire had completely misunderstood the usage of the word 'dead'.

"How did he get injured?" inquired Cyborg as his father rummaged through his toolbox.

"Slade." Growled Terra.

"Did we win?" asked Cyborg fearfully.

"Yeah, we did." Said Robin with a smile. "Thanks to Terra here."

"I had quality help from Robin and your air bubble." Terra grinned.

"That's great." Said Cyborg weakly. "How long have I been out?"

"About a month or so." Replied Robin.

"What exactly is BB's condition now?" asked Cyborg anxiously.

"He broke a lot of bones." Robin sighed. "He also apparently took a hit to the head that put him in a coma."

"It may be too much to hope, but has Raven come back?" asked Cyborg hesitantly. The others knew what he was thinking. Only Raven had healing powers.

"No, she hasn't." Sighed Robin sadly as Starfire burst into tears. She had grown close to Raven over the years and missed her terribly.

"I'm sorry I asked." Mouthed Cyborg to Robin as Starfire gave him a spine-tingling hug.

"It's okay!" Robin gasped through collapsing lungs.

6 Months Later

Six months after Cyborg's father first came to the house, Beast Boy was still in a coma. After his father had fully repaired him, Cyborg did everything he could to snap his friend out of the coma. As more time passed, Cyborg became increasingly desperate. He began trying all sorts of bizarre methods of snapping someone out of a coma and Starfire was often happy to help him. Robin and Terra simply rolled their eyes and watched the nightly show.

Sunday

Having had a huge dinner of bacon and eggs, Cyborg suddenly came up with a novel idea. Running to his room, he hauled an enormous speaker into the med bay where Beast Boy lay. To his relief, Starfire willingly agreed to help him.

After doing some research, Cyborg decided to have Starfire do some dramatic vocalizations. He was hoping that her naturally high voice singing extremely high notes at top volume would jolt Beast Boy into consciousness. Eagerly, Cyborg connected the speaker to a microphone then gave everyone in the house save Beast Boy a pair of earplugs.

"Alright, Star! You're gonna sing this series of ooos and ahhhs!" announced Cyborg as he gave her the music sheet. Giving her the thumbs up, he began to play the simple track.

"Ooooooooooooooooo!" She sang. Downstairs, Robin and Terra grabbed their ears and cried. "Ahhhhhhahhhhahhh! Ahhhhahhhhahhhhhhh!" Cyborg felt his whole body vibrating. "AAAAAAAHAHAHAHA! AHHHHHHHH!" vocalized Starfire. As several windows broke and the neighbors started calling the cops, she continued "EHHHHHHHHHHHH!" This time, dishes in the dishwasher downstairs began to crack. "AHHHHHHHHHHH!" The speaker itself began to crackle. Taking a deep breath, Starfire finished off with an earsplitting "AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Cyborg's only human ear began to throb despite the protection. Only Starfire seemed unfazed. Setting down the microphone, she looked quizzically at Beast Boy. He did not even budge an inch.

Monday

After Robin had repeatedly apologized to the neighbors and to the cops, he strictly ordered Cyborg to put the speaker away. He had an unwilling Terra head to the city for more dishes for the kitchen and put Cyborg on window repair duty. However, on Monday night Cyborg had already dreamed up another idea.

"BB snapped out of the trace that Mad Mod put him under when I did something funny and when Raven said something funny." Said Cyborg as he handed Starfire another piece of paper. "All we have to do is to crack some of those jokes that he loves so much!" he said with a wink.

"That we shall do!" cried Starfire happily.

"Why did the stomach jump off the boat?" asked Cyborg before motioning for Starfire to read the line below it.

"Because the rockin' made it boated!" she exclaimed gleefully. They then looked hopefully at Beast Boy.

"Get it? Boated? Bloated?" asked Cyborg.

"I do not think that Beast Boy gets the joke." Said Starfire sadly.

"That's weird." Muttered Cyborg. "He usually finds cheesy stuff like this funny. Let's try this. Why did the fat man move to loser town?"

"So that he could lose some pounds!" smiled Starfire. The two then stared expectantly at Beast Boy for a moment.

"Why did a boy hit a rock and fall off his bicycle?"

"Because he needed bifocals!" Silence.

"How do ya make a cow smile?"

"Say cheese!" squealed Starfire.

"You do know that those jokes are beyond bad, right?" demanded Robin as he and Terra stood at the doorway, staring quizzically the two.

"But BB loves them!" cried Cyborg. "Last one! Why did the greedy wolf go to the doctor?"

"Because he wolfed down his dinner!" Read Starfire proudly. The four then stared at Beast Boy. He did not even budge an inch.

Tuesday

Having ascertained that jokes were not going to help his cause, Cyborg tried another method. After work, he wasted no time in racing over to a DIY shop in town.

"How many types feather dusters do you have?" he asked the salesgirl as he skidded into the store. She stared at him in shock for a moment and then motioned for him to follow her. Cyborg bought one of every single type of feather dusters on display.

"Your wife must be a clean freak." Commented the cashier as she bagged his purchases. Cyborg was about to protest when he remembered that he was wearing his holographic ring.

"Heh." He smiled embarrassedly as he quickly paid for his things. His face burning with mortification, Cyborg sprinted out of the DIY store.

When he returned to the house, he wasted no time taking the feather dusters up to the med bay. The others followed him eagerly.

"_This has gotta be good_." Thought Robin as Cyborg whipped out the first blue and red feather duster. Even Starfire watched in amusement as Cyborg went crazy with the feather dusters.

"C'mon B! I know you can feel this!" yelled Cyborg as he lifted up Beast Boy's left arm and shoved the feather duster into his armpit.

"Remind me to throw those away." Sighed Robin as Cyborg grabbed another feather duster and jammed it up Beast Boy's right sleeve.

"B! You're wearing pajamas for goodness sake! Don't pretend! Ya feel me tickling ya!" roared Cyborg as he jiggled around the feather duster. "I swear BB has no sensory neurons in his armpits!" shrieked Cyborg in frustration.

"Am I the only one who thinks he's gone crazy?" asked Robin turning to the two girls. They simply gaped at him mutely.

"BB!" cried Cyborg as he began tickling the bottom of his feet with the feather dusters. "Can ya feel this ya little grass stain?" he screamed as he wedged the feathers between Beast Boy's toes.

"Let's leave him alone." Said Robin as he backed out of the med bay. This was getting too weird. Terra and Starfire happily followed, convinced that Cyborg was losing his mind just like Beast Boy had sort of lost his. And Beast Boy did not even budge an inch.

Wednesday

Cyborg decided that shocking Beast Boy out of his coma would be the solution to their problems. So far, he had already tried singing, jokes and tickling. Deciding to take a new approach, Cyborg filled up a bathtub with cool water. He then added in some salt and tossed a small metallic device into the water.

"What are you doing?" demanded Robin as he appeared at the bathroom door with Starfire and Terra eagerly looking over his shoulders.

"This baby right here," said Cyborg lifting the device out of the water. "Can freeze water to artic temperatures! I put in some salt to lower the melting point of the water." Cyborg chuckled evilly.

"And that would help, how?" asked Terra.

"I'm gonna drop BB in here and see if the freezing cold water doesn't jolt him out of his coma!" announced Cyborg proudly. The other three were skeptical, but allowed Cyborg to carry Beast Boy to the bathroom. At this point, they too were willing to try anything.

"In ya go!" yelled Cyborg as he unceremoniously dropped Beast Boy into the bathtub that now had little chunks of ice floating on the surface. Several drops of water from the resulting splash splattered on the others causing the girls to scream with the cold. Only Cyborg felt nothing. Sticking one hand into the bathtub, he supported Beast Boy's head and watched. He did not even budge an inch.

Thursday

By Thursday, Cyborg was getting increasingly desperate. The moment he stepped into the door, the others followed him carefully, knowing full well that he was going to try another crazy thing to wake Beast Boy up. They followed him into the kitchen where he took out a mortar and pestle.

"This is one of the hottest chilies in the world, the Bhut Jolokia or the Ghost Pepper." He announced as he poured several red and orange peppers into the mortar. "It's not the hottest in the world, but it'll do." He continued as he began to pound up the chilies with the pestle.

"This wouldn't have something to do with Beast Boy, would it?" asked Robin.

"It totally has something to do with BB!" yelled Cyborg. "Just a dab of this on his tongue should be enough to burn him back into consciousness!"

"That sounds painful." Remarked Terra as she winced. "Even more painful than that freezing bathtub of ice."

"Cyborg, are you sure this is safe?" asked Robin concernedly.

"Sure it is!" insisted Cyborg. "It'll probably burn him a little but if it'll bring him back, it's worth it." He concluded as he opened a drawer and took out a small spoon.

"Is there anything to relieve the burn?" persisted Robin. "You know, in case he does wake up?"

"There is." Replied Cyborg as he opened the fridge and poured a glass of full cream cow's milk. "According to researchers, this milk is the best remedy for a chili burn. Let's go!"

The others followed him up the stairs. This was too good to miss. Starfire repeatedly begged Cyborg to let her try some, but Robin sternly forbade her from having any.

When they entered the med bay, Cyborg put down the class of milk and walked over to Beast Boy. Taking a tiny, tiny portion of the chili, he pried open Beast Boy's mouth and shoved in the spoon. Everyone watched with bated breath as his tongue began to sizzle. He did not even budge an inch.

Friday

By Friday, Cyborg was quickly running out of crazy, unconventional ideas to wake Beast Boy up. He decided to be a little more scientific and do a little bit of research. After tinkering around in his room for several hours, he came up with the most scientifically sound plan that he had come up with the entire week.

"BB is in a coma because his cerebral cortex is not functioning properly. The reason why he hasn't been able to respond to anything is because the neurons in the cerebral cortex are not delivering sensory input to the thalamus rendering the cerebral cortex incapable of facilitating many neurological functions in the brain." He explained as he fitted a cap onto Beast Boy's head, which was attached with a tangle of wires. Robin simply stared at Cyborg in confusion while Terra and Starfire scrunched up their faces as they thought really hard. "This device that I've designed should stimulate the cerebral cortex…"

"Okay, we get it." Robin cut in. "This might be the first feasible idea you've come up with all week, so hurry up and do it."

"Here we go." Said Cyborg as he began to adjust the controls of the machine that he had carried to the med bay.

Finally, he looked up and gazed at Beast Boy. He did not even budge an inch. Cyborg tried again, carefully making some tweaks. Still nothing. Gritting his teeth, Cyborg tried yet again. Beast Boy remained unmoving. Terra was rapidly growing bored and left the med bay to go on her date with her new boyfriend. Starfire remembered that she had to feed Silkie and left the room a few minutes later.

The hours passed as Cyborg tried combination after combination. Robin finally perceived that the device was not working and went to the gym. Cyborg tried everything he possibly could way into the wee hours of morning, but Beast Boy did not even budge an inch.

Saturday

Being desperate and unable to think straight due to lack of sleep and a proper charge cycle, Cyborg began to lose it. On Saturday morning, he recruited Starfire to help him with the new plan that he had concocted during breakfast.

"Alright!" Cyborg shouted dramatically as he walked into the med bay wearing a pink tutu. A very happy Starfire dressed in Robin's clothes followed him in. If they looked baggy on him, they completely engulfed her.

Cyborg lifted Beast Boy up and leaned him against the wall before forcing him to wear a modified spectacle frame that held his eyelids open.

"Introducing, Cytutu!" yelled Cyborg as he whirled around the room. "C'mon, BB! Ya know ya wanna wake up to see this!"

Behind him, Robin and Terra were clinging on to the doorway, laughter tears streaming down their faces.

"And I am Strobin!" said Starfire brightly as she too began to dance around the room. The neck hole of Robin's shirt was so big that the top half of her pink bra could be seen. In order to make Robin's pants fit; she had borrowed one of his belts and pulled it tight causing the pants to bunch up at the waist. However, the way oversized shirt she wore covered that up.

Since Starfire was taller than Robin and had longer legs, Robin's pants were much too short and looked like three-quarter pants on her. To make matters worse, she had spiked her waist long hair backwards the way Robin always did. She looked very much like a scarecrow with a pyramid attached to the back of her head.

"Cytutu and Strobin!" sang Cyborg as he and Starfire pranced around the room. He then launched into his very own rap. "Nobody in the world dressed better than us, in fashion competitions we make everybody last! Cytutu and Strobin, we dressed so fine, make em' pretty fashionistas all go blind! With our fashion choices we rock the world, dudes can rock tutus, Star yeah you go girl! BB gonna laugh until he die cuz our clothes so crazy we wear the sky!"

By this time, Robin and Terra were laughing so hard that they were convulsing on the floor in pain. As for Beast Boy, he did not even budge an inch.

Sunday again

By the time Sunday rolled around once more, Cyborg was utterly demoralized. He had tried everything he could think of, including giving up his dignity. As much as he hated to admit it, his best friend was doomed to remain brain dead forever.

"Cyborg? You in there?" asked a voice from outside Cyborg's room.

"Yup. Come in." Said Cyborg sadly. Robin entered the room and closed the door softly behind him.

"Ummm… I know you're bummed about Beast Boy." Robin started hesitantly. "But I do have one idea to wake him up that just might work."

"Ya do?" asked Cyborg looking up hopefully.

"Yes. While you were in disrepair and your dad was fixing you, Terra talked to us about Beast Boy."

"Don't tell me she's still in love with him?" asked Cyborg.

"No, she's not. But she did make a very interesting observation." Replied Robin. "She told Starfire and I that when she left, Beast Boy was really immature and such. But when she came back, he had changed and had matured greatly, to the point that he's become something like Raven."

Inwardly, Cyborg perked up, but outwardly he tried not to show any excitement as Robin continued.

"That got me thinking. Because we're always with Beast Boy, we didn't really notice it when he gradually matured. We also didn't really notice that he had started acting more and more like Raven." Cyborg held his breath. "When Terra mentioned Raven, I started thinking about the old times when she was around and I realized that Beast Boy actually started becoming more mature sometime before Raven left. So I dug up some of our old videos and I noticed one thing. In many of them, Beast Boy was almost… _affectionate _towards her. It's almost as though he likes Raven and became more mature just by constantly observing and thinking about her." Cyborg could not believe that Robin had figured it all out by himself.

"I told ya nothing." Said Cyborg sharply before looking away.

"Wait, Beast Boy actually told you that he likes Raven?" asked Robin, wide-eyed.

"Yeah." Admitted Cyborg. He hated spilling Beast Boy's secret but he knew what Robin was getting at and that the only way to snap Beast Boy out of his coma was to reveal his secret.

"Since Raven means so much to him, it is quite likely that he will wake up at the sound of her voice." Suggested Robin.

"My thoughts exactly." Replied Cyborg, who was already fiddling with a palm-sized device in his hand. "If I can just get this to imitate Raven's voice…" his voice trailed off. Robin nodded approvingly and left the room.

* * *

Several hours later, Cyborg called Robin and Starfire to his room. Terra had gone out on another date with her beloved boyfriend Cody.

"What a whimsical device!" exclaimed Starfire as Cyborg held up the device in front of her face.

"It's called a vocal modulator." He replied. "All I need ya to do is to say something into this." He added before pressing a red button on the side.

"Something like what?" asked Starfire but it came out in Raven's voice. Starfire jumped back in shock. "What has done the wrongdoing to my voice?" she demanded in Raven's voice.

"This machine alters your voice to make it sound like Raven's." replied Cyborg. "Now let's try saying things with less emotion."

"That could take a while." Remarked Robin eyeing Cyborg. "Can't either one of us just pretend to be Raven?"

"No." Cyborg said with a sigh. "I haven't perfected this yet. It can only alter a female voice into another female voice and since Terra has gone out again, Starfire is our only option."

"Here we go." Sighed Robin as they began trying to get a recording of Starfire saying things in a monotone. That alone took several hours. But when she got tired and bored, they finally succeeded in getting a suitable recording of "Raven's voice". With mounting excitement, they dashed to the med bay.

"Let's put it beside his ear." Cyborg suggested. Robin and Starfire gave their approval. Cyborg took a deep breath and pressed the green button.

"Beast Boy. It's me, Raven." Squawked the device in Raven's monotone. To their shock, they saw Beast Boy's left eyelid quiver. "I'm back." The device continued. This time Beast Boy groaned and shifted his legs. The others looked at each other, delight shining in their eyes as they waited for the finale. "I love you, Beast Boy." Beast Boy suddenly opened his eyes the moment he heard those words.

"Raven?" he crackled in a voice that he had not used for more than six months.

"It worked!" Exclaimed Robin in amazement.

"Beast Boy! It is so amazing to have you back!" Cried Starfire joyously.

"BB!" Yelled Cyborg. "You're back!"

"Where's Raven?" Asked Beast Boy desperately. "And why does my tongue hurt?"

"You have no idea how much we missed you!" Shrieked Starfire as she went in for a hug only to be desperately restrained by the boys.

"I asked where's Raven!" Exclaimed Beast Boy as he scanned the room.

"Oh. That. Um. She's not actually here." Cyborg admitted as he picked up the device from Beast Boy's pillow. Beast Boy was speechless for several moments.

"So she didn't actually say 'I love you' to me?" Beast Boy was deeply disappointed.

"No, she did not." Replied Cyborg after a moment of silence. The hurt in Beast Boy's eyes made the others wish that they had just left him in a coma until Raven actually returned. Poor Beast Boy was heartbroken.

_Elsewhere in the city, the real Slade watched and smiled._


	14. Raven Returns

Things seemed to be going back to normal four months after Beast Boy woke up from his coma. Though the titans still had not found a way to be reinstated as the city's official guardians and they were still living in their house on the outskirts of the city, they had settled nicely and all seemed to be well.

During those four months, Cyborg finally found the antidote to the injection Slade gave Robin, much to Robin's relief. With several weeks of hard work, he quickly shrunk back to his normal size, though the huge folds of loose skin were still a problem. Terra decided not to go back to her old life and remained with the group as a titan. Beast Boy had problems getting over the fact that Raven did not actually say "I love you" to him, but he was dealing with it.

* * *

By now, more than two years had passed since Raven left and a lot had changed. Beast Boy was now quite a few inches taller than Raven was when she left and he had changed considerably. He went through puberty quite late, shortly after she left and when he turned sixteen. Not only had his voice and his physique changed, his behavior had too. The other titans could not help but notice that he was beginning to act more and more like Raven and it deeply bothered them. The group needed a clown to be balanced and they were rapidly losing their clown. Robin decided that some intervention was in order.

"BB! What's wrong with ya?" Demanded Cyborg as the titans sat him down for a firm chat.

"What do you mean be what's wrong with me?" Replied Beast Boy placidly. Immediately, he wished he hadn't asked. The titans pounced on him and each began reciting what he or she thought was wrong with him.

* * *

In another part of the city, a black raven appeared in the sky and swooped down over the titans' tower. As the black bird landed on the tower, Raven materialized in her human form. The moment she did so, an alarm sounded and she was ambushed by Cyborg's security system.

Hastily putting up a shield to protect her from laser blasts and exploding disks, she vowed to give her friends an earful for giving her such a welcome. To her amazement, the group that appeared before her was not the titans.

"What are you doing here, snotbag?" Demanded Gizmo. Raven raised an eyebrow and stared quizzically at him. "Oh! Haven't you heard? Your dumb friends got kicked out of the tower while you were gone because they weren't good enough!"

Hearing his words, the entire group laughed uproariously, save Kyd Wykkyd.

"We're the good guys now!" Yelled Gizmo as he took out a huge gun and pointed it at her. "So get off our tower!"

Raven was still reeling from the news that he had just given her, but that did not mean that she had completely spaced out. She held out her hand and immediately, Gizmo's gun was encased in her dark powers. It then vaporized. Calmly, Raven levitated upwards and flew off, leaving the STRIVE gaping at her in utter astonishment.

"She's the one we have to be afraid of." Said See-More with a sudden realization.

"Goose darn it!" Yelled Gizmo as he stalked off, still sore from losing his prized weapon.

* * *

_"Okay Raven, don't lose it."_ She thought as she flew over the city. _"Where could they be?" _

As she flew, she concentrated and did a psychic scan of the city. She easily located them and began flying to a house on the outskirts of the city.

_"Not good enough? Were things really that bad when I left? I shouldn't have left. No, I had to. I could've blown up the whole city! What happened to them?"_ She was now hovering over the house. Her heart ached for her friends and she wondered if they blamed her for their downfall. She decided to check out the house first. Taking the form of the black raven again, she melted through the roof and straight into the main room.

"What happened to the clown?" Roared Cyborg as he gesticulated wildly at Beast Boy. The other titans were so absorbed in jokingly berating him that they did not see the black raven seep through the walls. But Raven saw none of that. She only saw Terra sitting at the edge of the couch, laughing as Cyborg wrestled with Beast Boy, trying to paint his nose red.

_"They replaced me!"_ Thought Raven as she felt her world come tumbling down. _"They replaced me... But they promised!" _

She watched them laughing and joking for a full minute before she left the room and melted through the ground to the second floor. Transforming into her human form again, she walked down the hall. The hallway led to five doors and each had a large name engraved into them. ROBIN, CYBORG, STARFIRE, BEAST BOY and TERRA. Raven was crushed. She wondered where her things were and realized that they must have placed it in the basement, garage or attic. Since the house had no attic, she checked the basement. She found all her things there, dusty and untouched. Tears forming at the corners of her eyes, she absorbed all her things with her soul self and left the house.

* * *

Beast Boy stared at his friends as they comically jumped up and down pleading for him to go back to being the clown he once was. At that moment, his sensitive nose picked up a familiar scent - the smell of lavender - wafting through the door. Jumping up, Beast Boy morphed into a bloodhound and followed the scent down to the second floor.

Intrigued by his weird behavior, his friends followed him. Beast Boy followed the scent to the basement. Forcing the door open, he morphed back into his human form and switched on the lone light bulb that illuminated the basement. He entered, his friends hot on his heels.

"Raven's things!" He gasped with a sudden realization. "They're gone!" The others turned to look only to see that it was true.

All of Raven's things were gone and the ground where they once lay on was cleaner than the ground around it.

"Her scent, her things, Raven's back!" Cried Beast Boy. "But she's left! The trail ends here! Why would she come back and leave?" Cried Beast Boy as he fell to his knees. Cyborg walked over to his friend and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Look, B. Wherever Raven is, we'll find her." He promised.

Robin motioned for Cyborg to step outside as Beast Boy covered his face in his hands. Cyborg nodded and followed Robin outside as Starfire and surprisingly Terra tried to console him.

* * *

"I don't think Raven wants to be found." Said Robin once they were out of Beast Boy's hearing range.

"Why is-" Cyborg stopped short, thinking. "We broke our promise to her."

"We did." Robin nodded grimly. "We promised we wouldn't replace her and we did. Her scent was in the hallway, which means she saw the five doors. Beast Boy was right, we broke our promise to Raven by adding Terra to the team."

Cyborg hung his head. Never in his life did he feel so low. It was his vote that voted Terra into the team and even though he was being blackmailed then, he felt awful. He knew that Raven wouldn't know about Slade's return and all that happened to them. All she would know is that they replaced her when they had promised not to and that the very friends who had promised to stand by her forever had picked someone else to be their friend.

"That doesn't mean we can't try to look for her." Cyborg said finally. "We owe it to Beast Boy. He was the only one who stood by her. He was the only one who actually kept the promise."

"That's true." Robin agreed. "How are we going to do it? Would she have her communicator?" With that, the two went back to the main room discussing how they could track Raven down.

* * *

Raven flew as far away as she possibly could from the city. Before long, she arrived at the place where Beast Boy had brought her on the picnic that ended with him pushing the car home. There, she landed and released her things. She stopped to recollect her thoughts for a moment, before reabsorbing her things and flying away to a nearby mountain. There, she released her things once again and stepped back.

"Azarath Phenatria Vertutim." She recited softly as she held her hands in front of her. Immediately, a black spaceship appeared before her. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos." All her things were teleported inside.

"Oh, Raven. Leaving already?" Asked a familiar voice behind her. Raven instinctively clenched her fists.

"Slade." She growled as she turned to face him. "This was all your doing, wasn't it?"

"No." He said coolly. "Terra really did get her memories back. It had nothing to do with me."

"Whatever." She snapped as she turned to leave.

"Raven. Sweet little Raven. Do you really think I'm the reason why your friends decided to replace you?"

"Yes." She hissed as she turned to face him again. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't vaporize you here and now."

"Because." Said Slade shortly as he took a step towards her. "I can give you what no one could ever truly give you."

"Acceptance?" Asked Raven bitterly. "Your tactics may have worked on Terra, but they won't work on me."

"Unlike your friends, I'm not afraid of you, Raven. I know what your deepest fears are. After you defeated Trigon and found out about the will, your new fear was that someday, your friends would fear you and befriend you not because they truly love you but because they fear you." Raven stopped short. Slade was describing her sentiments exactly. "You feared that they'd fear you."

"So what?" Snapped Raven defiantly.

"You knew deep down in your heart that no one would accept you for who you are, yet you allowed yourself to be fooled by their lies. They betrayed you Raven, they replaced you. They broke the promise that they vowed to keep." Said Slade as he walked in circles around her, knowing that the ball was in his court. "Join me, Raven. Together, we can destroy those who played with your heart, those who played with your feelings. I know you have a thing for Beast Boy, but he loves Terra now. Not you, Raven. Terra."

"How do you know all this?" She asked resentfully, turning away from him once more.

"I've been watching. I've been watching nature take its course. So, what do you say Raven? You know that you're evil and you can't run away from that. You should embrace what you are Raven, instead of trying to be what you're not."

Slade watched Raven carefully as she fought an inner battle. Deep down, she still loved and cared for her friends. However, the demon side of her longed to rip them to pieces for their betrayal. Then she thought about Beast Boy. Would she do it? Would she destroy him? Would she actually allow herself to do so? Did she actually love him? Did she still love her friends? Did they mean what they did to her? Maybe there was another side to the story, yet the sight of Terra's name engraved on the door continued to haunt her. Raven fought within herself for a good ten minutes. Finally, she turned to her spaceship and walked towards it.

"They may have betrayed me and broken their promise. And though I may be evil, I will never, ever turn on them." She said firmly. "I came to earth all alone and they took me in and cared for me. Regardless of their sentiments then or what has happened now, they were nice to me. And for that, I will remain loyal."

"If you're so loyal to them, then why are you running away from them?" Asked Slade calmly. "Is it because you can't bear to see Terra and Beast Boy together?" Raven was silent for a moment.

"I don't have a place on this team any longer. They have Terra now, they don't need me. The past is the past and I must move on." She said gazing at the spaceship. "Slade?"

"Hm?" Slade took several steps towards her.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven yelled as she wrapped her dark energy around Slade's body. With one deft flick of her hand, she smashed him into a large boulder.

Thanks to her heightened powers, the boulder disintegrated and Slade dramatically flew off the edge of the mountain. Raven held out her hand and vaporized him in midair. Without so much as a backwards gaze, she strode into her spaceship and closed the door. A dark energy portal opened up above the spaceship and Raven and the ship disappeared into the boundless space.

Back on the mountain, the real Slade smiled. His plan was working perfectly. With the little emotion chip he had installed into the Sladebot, he had easily fooled Raven. One of the very most powerful beings in the universe had been fooled by a chip the size of a fingernail.

* * *

As Raven watched the pretty blue planet disappear from view, she felt a sense of despair overwhelm her. Though she loved Azar, she had looked forward to coming back earth and her friends every moment she was there. She had thought about them everyday and frequently reminded herself how fortunate she was to have friends who loved her and cared for her.

"Great anticipation leads to great disappointment." She sighed as several tears slid down her cheeks.

She looked out of the window and watched planets whizz by.

_"Who am I kidding?" _She wondered as the picture of the latest Teen Titans poster flashed into her mind once more. Having been pressured by various newspapers for a group picture, the titans had relented and visited a professional photographer to have one taken. When she saw the poster nailed next to the mailbox when she was leaving the titans' new house, Raven felt her heart drop. All the other original members of the team were in their favorite poses, the only difference being that Terra was in the position where Raven once was.

Having put the spaceship on autopilot, Raven retreated to her room and cried like she never had before in her life. Many had made her promises before, but of all the promises ever made to her, the promise that her friends would not replace her meant the most to her. She had never in her life expected that it would be broken.

_"I was selfish and stupid to expect them to keep my place on the team." _She finally thought in defeat. "_They looked so happy in the main room. I just hope that they'll be happy." _With that, she hugged her pillow tightly and cried herself to sleep.

* * *

Beast Boy was distraught. Actually, distraught was an understatement. He moped, wailed and cried, spending his days wallowing in misery. He avoided his friends and often locked himself in his room. Cyborg and Robin had finally told the team their most plausible guess on why Raven returned and left and Beast Boy blamed them for it.

He could only imagine what Raven must be feeling. The titans were in actual fact the only friends she had. One of the worst things one could ever do to a friend is to abandon that friend in favor of someone else and they had done just that. No matter how tough the going got, they should not have admitted Terra to the team and given her Raven's room.

Beast Boy knew exactly how Raven probably felt. Unwanted. Unloved. A disposable entity. How he longed to take her in his arms and tell her what he really thought about her. How he longed to tell her how important she really was to him and how he had only woken up from his coma when he thought that he heard her voice. How he wished that he could kiss her and make everything better. Beast Boy knew that he truly loved Raven and that he would do anything to make her happy. He spent hours monitoring surveillance cameras around the city. He was determined to find Raven.

* * *

As Beast Boy sat glued to the couch in the main room surveying the city, Cyborg and Robin were busy working on other ways to find Raven.

Robin thought very carefully about the chain of events that would lead Raven to find the house and it was then that he made a breakthrough. He realized that when Raven first returned, she probably would have had no idea as to what had happened to the team. That would mean that the first place that she would have gone to was the tower, where she would have undoubtedly met the STRIVE. Recognizing a lead when he saw it, Robin had Starfire and Beast Boy fly him and Cyborg down to the tower the confront the STRIVE.

* * *

"What do you want panty face?" Snarled Gizmo. His manners had definitely worsened over the years and so had his mood. Determined to get some answers, the four titans had completely destroyed his defense systems. Terra was noticeably absent from the group and that was due to her lunch date with Cody.

"We just want to know if you've seen Raven." Replied Robin, ignoring Gizmo's nickname for him.

"Yeah, we have." Replied See-More only to be kicked in the groin by Gizmo.

"You did?" Cried Beast Boy. "Where did she go? What did she say to you?"

"Don't know, nothing." Replied Gizmo and he whipped out a gun and readied it. "Get off our tower you bratty buttheads!" Seeing that that was all Gizmo could and would tell them, Robin and the other titans took their leave. They were not any closer to finding Raven, but what they did know was that she was back and that they were determined to find her.

_As Slade watched the beautiful demon princess flee in heartbreak, he slowly but surely pressed a red button._


	15. Choices And Revelation

After two days, the titans finally ventured out of the house to look for Raven. Robin had initially feared that searching the city individually would be a waste of time. Their efforts to find her with surveillance cameras having failed so far, they decided to opt for a more labor intensive approach.

Terra scanned the skies and provided rocks for them to fly on. Starfire flew into space to search for Raven while the others remained on earth.

"I've checked every depressing café in the city." Said Cyborg looking into his communicator. "She isn't there." Robin punched the wall in frustration. Wherever she was, Raven was doing an amazing job of hiding from them.

"Beast Boy, report." Robin commanded as he crossed out 'depressing cafés' from the list.

"I got nothing from all the libraries." Sighed Beast Boy his ears drooping.

"Where else could Raven be?" Asked Robin as he crossed out 'libraries' from the list as well.

"Gows to show how little we actually know about her." Said Cyborg dismally. Robin was about to reply when a robotic hand swatted the communicator out of Cyborg's. The communicator landed on the floor and smashed into smithereens.

"Cyborg?" Yelled Robin. "What's happening there?" But there was no response. "Beast Boy!" Yelled Robin as he sent him Cyborg's last coordinates. "Meet me there!"

* * *

Robin dashed to the garage and grabbed his R-Cycle. He sped out of the garage at top speed, whizzing down the driveway and towards the heart of the city. Meanwhile, his own heart pounded within him. Something had happened to Cyborg and he had no idea what. How he hated that! There was nothing Robin hated more than not knowing what was going on.

Upping the speed, he arrived at Cyborg's last coordinates in no time. The sight in front of him made his heart sink. One communicator lay on the ground several feet from the café. Another one lay several meters away, completely smashed like the first. The T-Car and the B-Mobile were nowhere in sight.

His heart sinking to its depths, he called Starfire. But before she could answer, Robin felt a now-familiar feeling crawl up his legs. As he sank to the ground, he turned around just in time to receive a punch in the face by a Sladebot.

* * *

Robin awoke to find himself strapped down like he had been when Slade captured him the first time. Groaning, he mentally kicked himself for allowing himself to be captured again. Looking around, Robin recognized the stains on the walls and realized he was back in the old room where Slade tortured and tormented him. Hearing familiar footsteps echoing down the hallway, Robin braced himself.

"Hello, Robin." Said Slade casually as he entered. Behind him was a Sladebot pushing a TV screen mounted to a movable stand. The Sladebot positioned the screen against the wall that Robin faced and left.

"You won't get away with this!" Growled Robin as he glared at Slade.

"I already have." Slade said evenly as the screen flickered on. Robin gasped in horror. The screen was divided into four sections, with each one showing live video footage of all the other four titans. Cyborg had been shut down, while the other three appeared to be unconscious.

"We've stopped you before and we'll stop you again!" Declared Robin defiantly.

"Not this time." Replied Slade. "Now, Robin. As the leader of the titans, you have the privilege of choosing which one of your friends gets to die first. So who will it be?"

"None of them are going to die." Replied Robin bravely.

"You have four minutes." said Slade as a countdown timer appeared on the TV screen. "If you pick one, that one will die first, saving the others. If you don't pick one at the end of the four minutes, all of them will die. Also, you cannot pick yourself."

"You're going to kill all of us anyway." Said Robin bitterly.

"Oh Robin, you think so much yet you know so little." Slade remained as calm and collected as ever.

"I'm not as dumb as you think I am." Snorted Robin.

"Oh, really? Since you're so smart, why not tell me what you think I'm doing?" Asked Slade.

"You waited until all of us split up and picked us off one by one so that you could kill us." Replied Robin as he gritted his teeth and strained against his restraints.

"Is that what you think I'm up to?" Asked Slade as he backed out the door. "Your time is running out, Robin. After the first one dies, I'll tell you more."

As the door closed behind Slade with a bang, Robin began thinking fast. As he gazed upon the faces of his beloved friends who were blissfully unaware of what was befalling them, he felt his heart break within him.

3 minutes 30 seconds

"_What shall I do?"_ wondered Robin as he stared at his friends' faces on the screen. "_I'm stuck and so are they. If I don't choose one, all of them will die! This is just what Slade wants! He wants to make me suffer! Think Robin! Think hard! How are you going to get out of this?" _Robin closed his eyes and kept thinking.

3 minutes 0 seconds 

"_Terra was the last one to join us and she's betrayed us before! But we all would've died at the docks if not for her! Is she working for Slade? How can I know for sure? No, I don't think so. If she were working for him he wouldn't have given me the option to have her killed! I can't do this! I can't bear to order the deaths of any one of them! They're my friends! I could never do that!" _Beads of sweat rolled down Robin's forehead.

2 minutes 30 seconds

_"But I must choose one! If I don't the other three will die and I know Slade will make sure it happens! Would I rather be responsible for one death or four? What am I thinking? I don't want to be responsible for any deaths at all!" _Robin's mind raced as his mouth became very dry. "_What to do? What to do? What am I going to do_?"

2 minutes 0 seconds

_"Cyborg likes to challenge my authority here and there but he's still a great guy and he's been so loyal to the team! I could never do this! Beast Boy has his faults but he's a good person and friend! Why am I even considering putting one of them to death?" _Robin clenched his fists._ "I could never let anything happen to Starfire! I would rather die than have her get hurt! But is fair to the others if I'm biased towards her?"_

1 minute 30 seconds

_"Is Terra being controlled by Slade? Did he put her up there on the screen to trick me into thinking she's still loyal? Should I choose Terra? Would it be right? Would Beast Boy be alright if I did that? Nah… He'll probably be madder if I choose Raven." _Robin sighed_. "Raven! She could help us! Oh, Raven! Where are you? I know you're somewhere out there. Do you have any idea how much we could use your help?" _Robin stopped himself for a minute when he realized that he was beginning to sound like a lover boy.

1 minute 0 seconds

_"Wait a minute! Raven and I have a bond. She's gone into my mind before! Maybe I could contact her using that bond! But how am I supposed to do that? I haven't been in her mind before!" _Robin's heart began to palpitate. _"Okay. Calm down." _He took several deep breaths and tried to relax. "_I have to do this just right. Focus on Raven… Focus… Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" _He thought.

Robin knew very little about magic, thus reciting Raven's incantation in his head was all he could think of. He waited for several moments but nothing happened.

30 seconds

_"Think Robin! You're running out of time!" _He scolded himself. "_Slade said you must choose one of your friends to die!"_ He stopped short as a new realization dawned upon him. "_He said one of my friends but he didn't specifically say that one of my friends referred to the four of them! Raven is one of my friends! And she's powerful, a little less powerful than Trigon himself! When Slade attacked Trigon, he was only able to hurt him! He couldn't kill him! Even if Slade tried, he couldn't kill Raven because she's so powerful and she has healing powers! Raven will survive no matter what!" _

Robin's heart had now jumped to his throat. He hated having to pick Raven to die like that since he was so close to her, but she was the only one that had not been captured by Slade and she seemed to be the most invincible one of them all. The jarring sound of the timer filled the room just as Slade walked through the door.

"So who will it be, Robin?" asked Slade as he held up a controller. The controller had four buttons on it, a green one, a blue one, a yellow one and a pink one. Robin instinctively knew what those colors stood for.

"I choose Raven." Said Robin calmly; inwardly smug that he had found a loophole in Slade's words. Slade appeared to be taken aback for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure.

"Very well." He said calmly and pressed a black button on the controller than Robin had not noticed earlier. The footage of the other four titans disappeared from the screen and Robin found himself staring at a huge black spaceship as it travelled through space. It was shaped like a raven in flight and Robin thought that he had never seen anything that cool in his life.

"_So Raven went to space." _He thought as he admired the spaceship. At that moment, the spaceship blew up in a huge fireball. Robin gasped as shrapnel flew in all directions. He had done Raven in and betrayed her! Slade had bested him again!

"What have I done? What have you done?" he cried, this time aloud.

"I'm getting rid of Raven." Replied Slade. "That was a neurostratanium blast, which will kill her instantly. And you thought that Raven was invincible didn't you?" he asked.

"Raven can travel through planes of existence. She will come back to crush you." Said Robin with a lump in his throat.

"I think not." Slade responded as the screen changed back to the live video footage of his friends. But this time, there were only three of them and Terra was conspicuously missing.

"Where's Terra?" demanded Robin.

"Doing whatever I tell her to do." Replied Slade.

"What?" cried Robin in horror. "How could she betray us again?"

"She didn't betray you by choice. I was controlling her all along."

"If you were controlling her, then why didn't you have her finish us off when she had the chance?" yelled Robin.

"All your life Robin, you've been trying to be a mini Batman. You've grown and you've learned, but there are some things that you are still to inexperienced to comprehend."

"Like what?" Robin spat out.

"Everything I've done so far is not to destroy you, but rather to make Raven leave the team so that I can destroy you and later, her."

"What?" asked Robin his eyes widening.

"When Raven defeated Trigon, Terra was released from her prison of stone. I made sure to shoot her statue with a ray that would allow me to control her access to her memories. I was the one who made her forget who she was and who you were.

When I attacked the oilrigs, it was to take down Cyborg. With no oil and electricity, he's powerless. I also made sure that Beast Boy got injured and that you got captured, so that Starfire will be insecure and lose some of her powers. I paid some of your so-called neighbors to destroy the solar panels and shoot Beast Boy and that took down Cyborg as well.

While Beast Boy was recovering, I fattened you up and sent you back. I figured that you'd work out to lose that weight and that'll bring Cyborg back, but it was worth it since you became so insecure about your appearance that you treated Starfire differently and that caused her to lose some of her powers again. Maybe you didn't know it, but she lost them.

All that was to make you and your friends think that you were so weak that you couldn't take me down on your own. Then all I had to do was to fake a doctor's diagnosis, buy a fortuneteller's shop and restore Terra's memories. You and your powerless, insecure friends happily took the bait and invited Terra to join the team and when Raven saw that you broke your promise not to replace her, she left."

"Raven won't just leave over a stupid broken promise!" Robin practically screamed. "She's much more mature than that!"

"That's where you're wrong." Slade chuckled. "Raven is powerful, but she herself is also very insecure. Terra was able to defeat her once single handedly merely by exploiting her insecurities. If you had replaced her with perhaps, Jinx or Kid Flash, she wouldn't have left. It was replacing her with Terra in particular that sealed the deal."

"Huh?" Robin was confused.

"And yet you call yourselves her friends." Slade shook his head disapprovingly. "Raven is very much like Terra in the sense that they are both incredibly insecure, yet they appear confident on the outside. This is because of all of you titans, Raven and Terra are probably the most powerful because they have the power over some form of telekinesis.

When a woman is dangerous like that, she fears that people will not accept her and holds the friendship of those around her very dear. It was for the same reason that Terra ran away when she thought that Beast Boy had told you her secret about not being able to control her powers. She was insecure and when he betrayed her trust, it was too much for her to handle.

Raven is very much like you. She is slow to trust and even slower to forgive. The fact that she hasn't forgiven Terra makes the broken promise even more painful for her. It is that kind of hurt and pain that would cause Raven to lose control over her powers. That's why Raven ran away. She just couldn't handle it."

"Raven went to Azar to learn how to control her emotions and powers. She wouldn't flee just because she couldn't handle the hurt. Raven is stronger than that." Robin insisted.

"Really? Then why is it that within the span of one hour, she destroyed her spaceship and recreated it thirteen times?" A video recording appeared on the screen. Robin watched in both amazement and amusement as he watched Raven's powers blow up the ship before she recreated it only to blow it up again. "It's beautiful how unstable she was, isn't it?" Asked Slade.

"If the neurostratanium is powerful enough to destroy her like you said, why didn't you just use it to destroy her in the first place? Why would you go through all that trouble?" demanded Robin.

"That's a very good question." Answered Slade. "Neurostratanium is powerful, but it isn't enough to kill her. Of all of you, she's the most powerful. Besides her, only I have used Trigon's power, therefore I know how powerful she actually is. I am human but Raven is half-demon. She can absorb and control much more power than I can. Though I only had a taste of a fraction of the power she has, I am properly impressed by it. Remember Robin, Raven stopped time in order to save you all. Which one of you can do that? When she left, she was insecure, angry, hurt and jealous and that weakened her enough for the neurostratanium to kill her. She is very powerful, that is why I needed your help to kill Raven and you and the team beautifully followed through."

Robin hung his head. He wished that he could just drop dead.

"Raven has no friends other than you titans. Because of that she'll protect you with everything she's got. In order to take you down, I must first take her down and the only way to do that is to make her angry and hurt. You made my life so much easier by betraying her trust with Terra."

"But Terra destroyed you!" insisted Robin. "She hated you! Why would you control her memories to make her hate you?"

"That wasn't me. That was a Sladebot filled with pig's blood." Once again, Robin felt like an idiot. "I can't actually control her mind, Robin. Her mind is her own. But what I can control is her access to her memories. When she lost her memories, she didn't actually lose them. Instead, she merely lost access to them. With my gadgets, I can manipulate which memories she has access to. When she joined you, I let her remember everything so that you'd believe her and let her join you. But now, all she remembers is that she's loyal to me."

"How do you know how Raven feels and everything? I doubt she's ever told anyone about this." Robin said stubbornly.

"I'm watching. I'm always watching. After Trigon's defeat, I took a special interest in Raven, because I saw the will and knew that taking her down was the only way to take the team down. I know how Raven feels because I do not take her facial expressions and words at face value like you do. I studied her body language, I studied her actions, I studied her interests. If you would've bothered to study her like that, you to would've noticed how insecure she is and come to all the same conclusions as I.

During battle, she covers up her back and head with a cloak, just like a child covers up his head and body with a blanket to hide from monsters. When you titans are venturing into the unknown, who is the one who always walks right at the back, shyly hiding behind the others for protection, afraid to be the trailblazer to walk right in front? Who was the one who was hesitant to join the team when Starfire first came because she feared that you wouldn't want her around? Who is the most insecure, introverted member of the titans? It's Raven."

Why are you telling me this?" stormed Robin bitterly. "Wouldn't it be better to just save your breath and kill me already?"

"I'm telling you this Robin, because I want you to die feeling like a worthless idiot who kills his friends." Starfire, Cyborg and Beast Boy's faces appeared on the screen once more.

"I would never kill my friends!" screamed Robin at the top of his lungs.

"But you will Robin. I will make you." Slade said as he closed in on him. "You will kill Starfire, Beast Boy and Cyborg, and there's nothing you can do about it. You will die seeing your blood stained hands with their murders on your conscience."

"I could never!" shrieked Robin as Slade walked out of the room leaving him to vent and rage.


	16. Raven Finds Out

Completely unaware about the lies that Slade was telling Robin, Raven sat in her spaceship her eyes glued to a large blue book. It had been two days since she had left earth and her friends. In order to take her mind off them, she tried to distract herself by reading. Her spaceship was drifting aimlessly through space, but Raven did not really care.

Raven read for several hours before putting away the book. Standing up, she went to make herself some tea.

* * *

While waiting for the water to boil, she thought about her friends and wondered what they were doing. As she stared absentmindedly into space, she heard something crash into the back of her spaceship. With a sigh, she wrapped herself up in her soul self and went to face hostile aliens who had not heard about the power of the demon princess. Materializing in front of the aliens who had boarded her ship, Raven glared at them. If a bear and a zebra mated, these aliens certainly looked like the product.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" recited Raven as she held out her hands in front of her.

Before she could focus her powers on the aliens, she was seized with a pounding headache. Falling to the floor, she knocked at her head with her knuckles trying to ease the pain. The aliens advanced quickly towards her with their weapons. A spaceship like hers would be a great prize.

"Saptim sergi sivere daemonicia!" said Raven as she backed away from the aliens. Immediately, seven fire-demons appeared in front of the aliens. Leaving the fire-demons to do the job, Raven fled back to her room.

"_What's happening to me?" _she wondered as she fell to the floor. "_I must meditate." _She decided as she assumed the lotus position and levitated into the air.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos…" Raven cringed. The pounding ache in her head was now a stabbing pain. Never before had her mantra made her headaches worse. Perplexed, Raven flew over to her bookcase and took out a box that was shaped like a book. Opening it, she drew out a pendant shaped like a dove with its wings stretched upward. Clutching it in her hand, she closed her eyes and focused.

"Azar!" exclaimed Raven the moment she felt the connection between the pendants. "I don't know what's happening to me. Some aliens attacked my ship and when I used my incantation, I developed the worst headache I've ever had. What's happening to me?" There was silence for a moment. Raven waited patiently for a response.

"Have you ever used your soul self to enter someone's mind?" asked Azar.

"Yes, I used it to defeat Plamus when-"

"No, dear child. Have you ever gone into someone's mind whence you were allowed to see that person's memories?"

"Well, yes." Raven said finally. "I went into Robin's mind once."

"That is your answer." Replied Azar tranquilly. "When you enter someone's mind, you form a bond with them. If that person is in great danger or distress and recites your incantation verbally or nonverbally, you will get headaches the next time you use the incantation, that is provided you care for that person deeply."

"How long will it take for the headaches to go away?" Groaned Raven. "How long will it be before I can use my incantation again?"

"It'll wear off the third time you say it." Responded Azar. "Raven, do you know what this means?"

"Yes." Replied Raven, understanding. "Robin is in trouble which means the other titans must be in trouble too. And although I am really upset with them…" Her voice trailed off. "… I got headaches because I do care about them." She looked down at her shoes.

"I'll leave you to make the decision on your own. Goodbye Raven." Said Azar as the pendant stopped glowing. Silently, Raven put the pendant back in the box and placed it back on the shelf. Heading out of her room, she teleported herself back to the place where the aliens had entered.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." Said Raven softly before falling to the floor and clutching her head once more. However, she forced herself to focus and repaired the damage done to her somewhat magical spaceship. She then reabsorbed the seven fire-demons she had created and teleported herself back to the cockpit, which was shaped like a raven's head. "Hang on, I'm coming." She breathed as she opened a portal to earth and guided her spaceship through it.

* * *

Robin stared blankly into space as he waited for Slade to return. When he did, two Sladebots and a familiar looking uniform accompanied him. It took only one glance to tell Robin that it was the old uniform he wore when he was forced to be Slade's apprentice.

"I've made some adjustments to your uniform." Announced Slade as he briskly strode over to Robin. Robin was about to protest when unconsciousness seized him.

* * *

Meanwhile, Raven had stopped her spaceship over the city and was doing a psychic scan to search for her friends. Her arrival had caused quite a large stir in the city. Hordes of journalists gathered below her spaceship, speculating and snapping thousands of photographs. As the paparazzi used megaphones to ask questions, Raven levitated in her living room trying to concentrate.

"Who are you?" Blared a series of speakerphones at top volume. "If you are aliens do you come in peace?"

"Don't you dare invade earth!" Squawked another loudspeaker. "We have the STRIVE on our side!"

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos…" Raven closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos…"

"Talk to us or we'll shoot you out of the sky!" Blared a loudspeaker that drowned out the cries of the others. Raven opened her eyes, instinctively recognizing the voice of the mayor. Sighing, she touched down and held her hands in front of her.

"Azarath Phenatria Vertutim!" She recited as her hands were enveloped in dark energy. A large flag with the words 'TEEN TITANS' appeared in her hand. Raven then teleported herself to the left wing of the spaceship and attached the flag to it. As she levitated in midair, she glared at the reporters as if to say "Are you happy now?" before wrapping herself up in her soul self and disappearing from view. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos…"

"Raven! It's you! You're back! Tell us, why did you leave the titans?" Blared the persistent reporters again.

Raven opened her eyes, fuming. Storming over to the cockpit, she powered up the engine and blasted off leaving the wide-eyed reporters blinking and without answers. Raven zoomed away from the city back to the titans' house. Leaving the spaceship hovering above the house, she materialized in the hallway.

Having ascertained that no one was inside and that the house was empty, Raven ran to Robin's room and opened a portal to the inside. Hastily, she made her way over to his desk and began sorting through the piles of files on it.

"He always keeps the very latest cases on his desk." Mused Raven as she scanned through a green file. "That's weird. This file is from a long time ago; from the last time we fought the H.I.V.E. This file is on Gizmo, this one's on Kyd Wykkyd and this one is on See-More… Why would Robin be going through their files?" Raven wondered as she closed them. A light bulb went off in her head when she realized that titans must have had a confrontation with the H.I.V.E.

_"It makes sense!"_ she thought as things began to click in her mind. _"Kyd Wykkyd practices dark magic and Gizmo is a tech genius. They must have combined their abilities to make something to jam my psychic powers."_

Fuming, Raven opened Robin's window and flew out, not bothering to take her spaceship. She was going to confront the H.I.V.E. ASAP. Once she neared the tower, she immediately set up a shield around her as Gizmo's security systems went off again.

"What do you want demon?" screamed Gizmo in his obnoxious voice as he disengaged the security systems.

"What have you done with my friends?" snapped Raven.

"The mayor gave us their jobs!" Said See-More defensively.

"I have reason to believe you're holding my friends hostage." Growled Raven.

"We would love to do that!" cried Gizmo as the others cringed. "But now that they have Terra we don't stand a chance!"

Raven remained completely unmoved for a moment. Then, without a warning, she developed _four_ red eyes.

"Worthless mortal!" she cried in an unearthly voice. "What have you done to my friends?"

"Nothing!" cried Gizmo as he and the others quaked with fear. "Nothing at all!"

Raven stared at them and sensed that they were telling the truth, so she wordlessly teleported herself back to the house leaving Gizmo and his teammates with many nightmares to come.

* * *

"What's happening?" groaned Raven as the red eyes disappeared and she returned to her normal self. "If the H.I.V.E. doesn't have them, then who does?"

Since everything Cyborg had was electronic and encrypted and Beast Boy never wrote anything down, she entered Starfire's room and began going through her things. She knew the others would not appreciate the invasion of privacy, but she knew this was the only way she could get the slightest bit of information about what was going on.

As she opened the bottom drawer of Starfire's chest of drawers, she found a notebook inside. Curiously, she randomly opened it and found detailed instructions on how to care for someone in a coma. Realizing that this could be a lead, Raven started from the first page of the book and quickly scanned through it. Reality hit her like a ton of bricks.

"Slade!" she cried aloud. "Why didn't I think of that?" she exclaimed.

Furiously, she read all that Cyborg had written about Slade's plans and how he believed that the STRIVE was actually the H.I.V.E. This confused Raven at first; until she remembered that the five members of the STRIVE were all wearing different costumes. She finally figured that they must have taken on new identities, though their personalities made them easily recognizable to her. Completely certain that Slade was responsible for the disappearance of her friends, Raven began to concoct a plan to take Slade down.

* * *

When Robin awoke, he realized that he was in his old apprentice uniform. He tried to move his arms but was unable to.

"With this suit, I'll be able to control your every movement like I controlled Terra." Said Slade as Robin looked down and tried to get his legs to move.

To his amazement, they did. However, as he walked out of the room and down the hall, he became painfully aware that he was unable to control where he was going. Slade was controlling him as though he were a robot; an unwilling robot. Robin stopped in front of a reinforced steel door, which opened for him on its own.

"Robin!" cried a frightened voice from the inside. Robin tried to call out Starfire's name but nothing happened. Repeatedly, he tried to run to her only to find his legs were not working. Slade was in control of every muscle in his body except his brain. Controlled by Slade, Robin stalked into Starfire's room with Raven's usual deadpan expression on his face.

"_Starfire_!" he cried inwardly. "_What's happening?_" He strained and concentrated but no matter what he did, he was unable to regain control of his arms and legs. Though every fiber of his being resisted, he picked up a large knife. Robin became terrified as he walked over to her.

"Starfire, I just want you to know that I don't love you anymore." He said. Robin could not believe it! He actually said it! Slade was controlling his jaws and tongue as well!

"What?" she cried her green eyes brimming with tears. The alien girl trembled in terror as she began to sob.

"I never loved you." Said Robin coldly.

Inwardly, he was screaming, "_I love you! I love you! I will always love you!"_

"Robin!" cried Starfire her voice cracking under the strain. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"I work for Slade now. You titans were foolish to trust me." Robin could not believe what he was saying.

"Robin! I know that you are not yourself! Is Slade doing the controlling of you? Is he mail blacking you?" yelled Starfire not believing that Robin would actually say that.

"_Yes, he is!"_ cried his mind.

"No, he is not." Said his mouth.

"_Curse you mouth!"_ Shrieked his mind. For the first time in his life, Robin wished that he could destroy his own tongue.

"I've always wanted to join Slade. There's a certain thrill to being a criminal. I only stayed with you titans because toying with your feelings was fun."

"I don't believe you!" screamed Starfire.

_"I don't believe myself either!"_ Robin's mind screamed.

"Believe it." Said Robin firmly. "Goodbye, Starfire." He went on as he placed the knife against her throat. Starfire closed her eyes as several tears fell onto the cold, hard metal.

"Goodbye, Robin." She said sadly. "Even if you do not do the loving of me, I will love you forever."

Robin put every brain cell into trying to control his hand. Time was running out for Starfire, just like he was sure that time had run out for Raven.

Just when he thought that he was going to kill her, his hand moved. It swiftly brought the knife down to her waist, which was not covered by her uniform. Plunging the knife in, he began to carve up her waist. As he dragged the knife through her skin like a plough through the soil, fountains of blood spurted into the air. Starfire writhed and screamed with pain, yelling and shrieking as though she had no tomorrow.

Hearing her screams and seeing what he was doing, Robin wished more than ever that he could just drop down and die.


	17. Red X Raven

Raven sat in her spaceship, reviewing her plan in her head. The last time she met Slade, he had told her that he was constantly watching the titans and he was very persistent in getting her to join him. That made Raven certain that Slade was watching her, causing her to be very cautious as to what she wrote down and what she did not. After a lot of thought, Raven came to believe that the only way to take Slade down was to make a 180-degree turn.

During her time with Azar, Raven had learned many things that no one knew about yet. In the past, Raven had been unable to control her powers when her demonic side surfaced, as in the case of her and Doctor Light. Almost every time that happened, it was when she was angry. Slade obviously knew that since Terra had defeated Raven once by inciting her anger, which ultimately corrupted her.

But what Slade did not know, was that Raven could now allow her demonic side to surface while maintaining perfect control of her emotions. In other words, she could summon it at will and still control her powers. In addition to that, Raven now had the ability to create fire-demons. She was determined to use her new abilities to help her gain leverage over Slade.

* * *

Opening Starfire's bedroom window, Raven flew out and began heading towards the city, back to the city square where all the reporters were waiting. Once there, Raven looked for something to get angry about. Looking up, she saw what she was looking for. Concentrating, she allowed the four red eyes to appear.

"Traitors!" she roared in her deep, demonic voice as she flew towards the large screen mounted to the side of a building. In order to announce Raven's return, the news station that broadcasted from that screen had put a large picture of the titans on it. Raven encased the screen in her powers and shattered it.

People in the street began panicking, running to and fro like drowning ants.

"Melli Sergi Sivere Daemonicia!" Raven shrieked as an army of fire-demons appeared behind her.

Furiously, she instructed the fire-demons to terrorize the people in the city. Smiling proudly, she hovered in the air enjoying the show. As the masses fled in fear, Raven landed on the roof of a tall building, admiring her handiwork. A minute later, she felt a presence behind her. Slade had walked right into her trap.

"Impressive." Said Slade from behind her. Turning around, Raven hissed and lunged at him. Slade deftly jumped out of the way. "I always knew you had it in you." Raven turned away, finely tuning her senses. She wanted to establish that this was actually Slade and not a Sladebot sent in his place.

"The earth shall be mine, not yours." She growled in an unearthly voice.

Slade smiled behind his mask. He had been watching her and knew that she had remained loyal to the titans because she had gone back to their house to search it. On top of that, she had confronted Gizmo and the others about them. However, anger had gotten the best of her once again and she had finally succumbed to her demonic urges. Or so he thought.

"I have a proposition." Slade said, completely unfazed by Raven's attitude and behavior.

"Insignificant mortal." Snapped Raven. "Why should I listen to you?"

"Because I have something you want." Slade replied smoothly.

"What?" snapped Raven as she surveyed the city.

"I can deliver the titans into your hands, including Terra." Slade smiled. Raven cocked her head and thought for a minute. She knew that she deserved a string of awards for this performance. Seeing that she was seriously considering his offer, Slade pressed further. "You can torture them as you like." Raven turned around, a wicked smile on her face. Slade was falling for this hook, line and sinker.

* * *

Back at Slade's hideout, Robin was wrecking havoc on the other titans. Having carved up almost every inch of Starfire's skin leaving her to bleed to death, he had been directed to Beast Boy's room. Though he resisted with everything he had, he ripped out Beast Boy's fang and completely rearranged his face with a flurry of merciless blows.

"Dude!" choked Beast Boy as he began coughing up blood. "Why?"

_"I really don't want any of this to happen!" _cried Robin in his mind.

"You're an idiot." Said Robin's mouth. "And I enjoy watching idiots suffer." With that, he inserted a cattle prod into Beast Boy's mouth. Shrieking with pain, Beast Boy strained and struggled against his restraints. But like Starfire, Slade had somehow neutralized his powers. But Robin or rather Slade, was not done. Robin picked up large pair of scissors. "You're not a man, Beast Boy."

"What are you talking about?" Beast Boy shrieked through the pain.

"You're so ladylike that you don't even deserve to be called a male." Robin head began to hurt even more than it ever did before. What did Slade have in mind for Beast Boy? "I'm going to neuter you." Said Robin holding up the scissors. Terror seized Robin and Beast Boy alike and Beast Boy began to scream.

* * *

Back on the roof of the building, Slade was busy trying to make a deal with Raven. He didn't worry about Robin and the others because he had already preprogrammed everything in advance.

"If you agree to give me the same powers that Trigon gave me, I'll let you finish off the titans as you please." Bargained Slade. The taste of Trigon's power had corrupted him and had now become his greatest weakness. Raven sensed it and was determined to exploit it as much as she could.

"You will serve me with those powers." Declared Raven as she glared at him with her four red eyes.

"I serve no one but myself." Replied Slade.

"Trigon gave you powers and you served him. If I give you powers, you will serve me." Glowered Raven.

"Whatever you say, master." Said Slade after a moment of thought.

"Deliver those traitors to me." Ordered Raven.

"Only after I've received my payment." Slade said firmly. "I will not let you play me for a fool like your father did." Raven nodded and motioned for him to kneel before her. He did so and she placed her hand several inches over his head.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

Slade stood up and held out his hand. Realizing that he truly had powers once again, he motioned to her to follow him.

"I will bring you to them." He said, wanting to stay on her good side.

"No." roared Raven. "You will bring them to me! Prepare five torture chambers in my spaceship for me and hold them in there until you receive further orders."

"But don't you want to torture them now?" Slade asked.

"Do not question my judgment!" Raven snapped as her four red eyes glowed even more brightly. Seeing that she was becoming even angrier, Slade quickly teleported himself back to his secret headquarters.

* * *

Robin was about to make the fatal snip when Slade walked through the door. Beast Boy was incoherent and practically going mad. Robin was allowed to drop the scissors, for which he was relieved.

"I'm done torturing you." Announced Slade as Beast Boy cried tears of relief. "But my master isn't."

"Your master?" questioned Robin as he was brought back to his own room.

"My master will decide your fate." Replied Slade.

"Since when do you serve a master?" Robin was incredulous.

"In serving my master, I serve myself."

With that said, Slade melted through the floor. Something clicked within Robin's mind. He had seen Slade do this once before. Robin began wondering if Trigon had returned. He tried to comfort himself by telling himself that Raven had already dealt with him, yet the lingering worry remained at the back of his head.

* * *

Beast Boy took several deep breaths to calm himself down, only to feel a searing pain surge down his throat. The pain was blinding, ripping through his entire being.

_"So this is what it's like to die." _He thought as he peered into the darkness with his swollen right eye. As blood flowed from his mouth like a waterfall, Beast Boy silently reviewed his life. _"I've taken my life for granted."_ He realized. _"I've taken everything I have for granted and my punishment is that I've run out of time. I'll never get married. I'll never have kids. I'll never get the chance to tell Raven how I really feel about her. I am going to die wondering what we could have had together." _Beast Boy felt his soul being crushed within him the moment he thought about Raven. _"When she was here, I came so close to telling her about my feelings so many times. Now I'll never get the chance to because I was too slow and stupid to realize that nothing is forever. How could I have just let her get away like that? Why? Why is it that I never could say 'I love you' to her face?"_

Beast Boy tilted his head down as blood began dripping from his nose as well. It was growing increasingly difficult for him to breathe.

_"Why is life so cruel to me? All I ever wanted was Raven's love. It's all I ever wished for and it's what I always dreamed of. Life is so unfair. It isn't fair that I have to die without having my biggest dream fulfilled."_

Beast Boy felt himself getting weaker, but he willed himself to live on.

_"I will not die like this. I will not give in. I will do everything it takes to live for a chance to tell Raven what I feel. If she rejects me, I'll just die. If she doesn't, I'll die knowing that the most wonderful woman in the world loves me."_

Beast Boy closed his eyes. In his state of delirium, he thought he saw a bright light that illuminated the end of a long, pitch black tunnel. Despite the pain that racked his body and attacked every nerve, he crawled towards the source of the light. He saw a mysterious figure emerge from the light, its dark human shape contrasting sharply with the brilliant light. As he watched, a purple orb of light that shimmered and shone with magnificence engulfed it. The orb floated towards him and a woman in a blue cloak stepped out of it. Her hood covered her head, casting a shadow on her pale face. All he could see were her gentle lips, which were curved into a pleasant smile. The woman reached out and touched him. Instantly, every trace of pain evaporated. Beast Boy looked up into her face as he stood up.

"Raven?" He asked. "Is that you?"

The woman remained silent. Beast Boy reached for her hood, hoping to put it down but the woman quickly backed away.

"Please don't run away from me!" Beast Boy begged. "I can't live without you!"

"Yes, you can." Said the woman in a gentle and even voice. While she strikingly resembled Raven, her voice was very different. "Whoever this Raven is, she no longer exists. The Raven you knew and loved is now gone and she has been replaced by a new Raven."

"What are you talking about?" Beast Boy practically yelled. "Raven is still here! I know she is!"

"Time changes things. Raven has grown, just as you have. As you grow in strength, stature and wisdom, you cease to be the person you once were. In the same way, Raven has ceased to be the girl she once was. The woman she is now is the new Raven, not the old Raven that you are in love with."

"New Raven or old Raven, Raven is Raven and I will always love Raven." Beast Boy said stubbornly.

"Beast Boy." The woman's voice changed. Beast Boy instantaneously recognized Raven's voice.

"Raven?" Beast Boy took a big step towards her.

"Beast Boy, it's me."

Beast Boy blinked several times to make sure his eyes and ears were not playing tricks on him.

"Raven!" He exclaimed as he lunged forward. The woman deftly stepped out of the way as Beast Boy crashed unceremoniously into a wall. With a groan, he forced himself to his feet and staggered towards her. Having stopped right in front of her, Beast Boy was just about to open his mouth when she leaned in and gave him the sweetest kiss of his life. He wrapped his arms around her, savoring the moment for as long as it lasted; which was a good, whole three seconds.

"Beast Boy, I love you." The woman said in Raven's voice. In that instant, she vanished and Beast Boy found himself clutching at air.

"Raven? Raven! Don't leave me!" Cried Beast Boy. Just when he felt his world crashing down on him once more, he awoke with a start.

_"It was just a dream." _Beast Boy tried to calm his pounding heart. The pain from his injuries returned and he found himself drenched in his own sweat and blood. _"It was just a dream. I've lost so much blood that I'm hallucinating." _

Although Beast Boy was rapidly weakening, hearing Raven's voice in his dream cheered him considerably, giving him the courage to fight for his life. He was determined to live. He wanted to hear Raven say those words for real. His intense desire to hear the actual Raven's voice and to touch her in reality gave him the motivation he needed to survive. Beast Boy knew deep down in his heart that he was going to make it no matter what happened.

* * *

Robin waited for what seemed like an eternity. After several millenniums had passed, Slade returned. He was blindfolded and the entire bed that he was strapped to was wheeled out of his room. He could hear Starfire's moans and Beast Boy's groans in the hallway. He was greatly relieved to hear their cries, but he knew that time was rapidly running out for them.

Robin and the other titans were swiftly transferred to Raven's spaceship. Slade had bludgeoned Terra on her head with with a lead pipe, effectively knocking her out. As a result, she was silent and Robin had no idea that Terra had shared their fate.

Unknown to the five, Raven was watching them as Slade wheeled them into their chambers. She had successfully pulled off a Red X on Slade. By tricking him into thinking that she had allowed her anger and hurt to corrupt her, she had manipulated him into handing her friends over to her, where he could no longer hurt them and where she could destroy him with the calm assurance that her friends were safe. Raven was pleased. But as she looked at the world with four red eyes, she wondered if she would be able to compose herself when she finally reunited with the people who meant more than anything in the world to her.


	18. Trickery, Cunning and Deceit

Raven could hardly wait to vaporize Slade once and for all to bring closure to a dramatic saga that had dragged on for years. She was just about to call him to the main room when a sudden realization hit her like a ton of bricks. _This just seemed too easy._ Slade had fallen for her trap _too easily;_ something that seemed way out of character for a discerning villain like him who repeatedly outsmarted the titans time and time again.

_"He's up to something._" Raven realized. _"__There's no way Slade would be so easily fooled. He's the bamboozler, not the bamboozled. If I were to destroy him now, he could very well leave a nasty parting gift. I can't destroy him until I'm sure that he has nothing on us." _

Slade strode purposefully into the main room at that moment.

_"And speak of the devil..." _thought Raven as she faced him with a wicked expression contorting her face.

"Master, don't you wish to torture the titans?" Asked Slade.

"Torturing them is pointless if they are not conscious to feel the pain and I cannot receive any gratification from hearing their screams." Raven replied sullenly.

"You could heal them." Slade cocked his head to one side. He was secretly testing her.

"Demons do not heal!" Raven thundered. "We only destroy!"

"What about the fire-demons?"

"What about them?"

"They aren't terrorizing the city."

"Fool. I love to hear the music of cries of fear, but I need them to build that fortress on that mountain for me."

"Aren't you going to destroy the city?"

"And what?" snapped Raven. "Destroy the city and gloat to no one about it? What's the point of destroying it if the titans are not awake to watch the show?"

Hearing her words, Slade nodded and walked out of the room. Raven had passed. For now.

* * *

After Slade had left, Raven went back to her thoughts.

_"Slade is one who frequently sets traps for us. Him falling for my trap is probably to make me fall for his trap. But how can that be? Nobody knows about all the new things I learned from Azar. I went to another plane of existence for goodness sake! No. There's no way that he knows he's played into my trap. I've played the role of a demon perfectly. He may not know that he's been tricked, but he probably has a trap for me as well."_

After a quick mental review of Slade's arsenal of weapons and gadgets, it didn't take very long for Raven to discern that Slade's nanobots were to be her greatest worry, because they were small, deadly and difficult to detect and remove. As an experienced crime fighter, Raven knew that villains as a whole often had the tendency to reuse existing technology because producing new gadgets and tools took a lot of time and effort. This made Raven very certain that Slade would make use of them once more. The big problem was that Raven did not know the slightest thing about nanobots, other than the fact that they existed.

_"Those tiny things are going to prove my very undoing!" _She fumed. _"If my powers couldn't detect them then, there's no way they could detect them now! Arrgh. There's got to be some way for me to do this. I could use my powers to create a machine that detects and destroys nanobots. No, that won't work. Magic doesn't fuse with nanotechnology so easily. Technology, yes. Nanotechnology, probably not. It's one thing to create a spaceship with all of its systems and another thing to create something to eradicate something I can't even see!"_

Raven realized that she was quickly losing control of herself and made a conscious effort to calm down. Having done so, she returned to her thoughts.

___"Think Raven! Think!" _She mentally chided herself._"Your friends are depending on you to save them! Arggh! How __I wish that I could heal them so that they could help me. Robin would have a plan and Cyborg would be able to help with the nanobots thing. Silly Raven. You know you can't do that or you'll blow your cover and Slade will find out and he might do something terrible. Great. I'm talking to myself in my mind. I'm going to need therapy once this is over!"_

By now, Raven was highly stressed and was noisily pacing around the main room, an angry, demonic glare plastered on her face.

_"It's official. No matter how powerful I get, I will always need my friends by my side. What's the use of so much power when you can't figure out how to defeat your enemies with it? What's the use of being so powerful if you know nothing about electronics, aliens, martial arts and the animal kingdom? What are you doing Raven? Stop beating about the bush!"_

Raven stomped around the room like a bull through a china shop.

_"Focus. Since the team is all out for the count, I alone am the team. In order for me to be successful, I must operate like the team does and learn how to play the role of each of the other members in the team. I'll have to do some of that roleplaying that Beast Boy loves so much. Okay, let's see. I need a plan, so I'm going to take on Robin's role. What does Robin do whenever we have a villain to defeat? Usually he yells 'Teen Titans go!' and we all speed off to fight the villain. Hmmm... If he knows nothing about the villain, then he'll lock himself in his room and not come out for days until he finds a lead. That's it! A lead! Robin always does his homework and research on villains like Slade!"_

Now that she knew what to do, Raven gleefully sprang into action to learn everything she could about nanobots. With her demonic side allowed to surface, she easily developed a plan to trick Slade once more. Having pretended to lose it because work on her mountain fortress had been hindered by a landslide, Raven threw a huge tantrum in her room. She then used the ensuing chaos and noise as a distraction, allowing her to secretly slip a thin gold bracelet with a white owl-shaped diamond onto her left wrist before covering it up with the cuff of her sleeve. That way, even if Slade was watching her, he could not possibly have seen what she had done.

What Raven had done was to slip the Bracelet of Athena onto her wrist. Just before Raven left Azar in her plane of existence to return to earth, she had given her the bracelet as a parting gift. Raven had stashed it in her room with all of her valuables instead of wearing it everywhere because she didn't think that she would need it and the queer power that it afforded her.

When Azar had given Raven the bracelet, she called it the Bracelet of Wisdom and explained that its power was that it allowed its wearer to instantaneously absorb all the information from the thickest of books by merely waving the hand the wore the bracelet over the book. Having read substantial literature about Greek mythology, Raven renamed it the Bracelet of Athena, after the Greek goddess of wisdom who was often accompanied by an owl. Azar was mildly amused, but little did she know how valuable this gift was going to prove to Raven.

* * *

Having forced her way into the Jump City University of Engineering's library and having dragged Slade in with her, Raven announced that they were going to search for the thickest book they could find on nanotechnology. Her explanation? She was planning to torture Beast Boy by forcing him to read the book cover to cover. Why technology? She was going to make Cyborg watch him from another room and Cyborg loved this kind of stuff. Having to watch Beast Boy painfully reading about stuff he loved would drive him nuts. Why nanotechnology? Being nano, she thought that it would be more complex, thus confusing Beast Boy even further and making his head hurt more.

_"She sure is Trigon's daughter, but she's evil in a different way." _Slade thought as he walked next to her.

Raven waved her hand over the books as she walked from shelf to shelf, pretending to reach for one before withdrawing her hand a moving on. Sometimes, she held her hand by her side and absorbed information from books at that level as she walked by.

_"Women. So indecisive." _Slade shook his head.

After what seemed like an eternity to Slade, Raven chose a book and frightened the librarians into giving the book to her. Having done so, she teleported them back to her spaceship with a brilliant plan in mind.

However, the moment they got there, Raven pretended to have yet another tantrum because Beast Boy was still unconscious and she wanted to torture him without having to heal him. She subsequently set off the smoke alarms and sprinklers during the course of her eloquent rant; which involved a blow torch and the couch. Everything in the room - including the book - was drenched. Outwardly angry and inwardly relieved, Raven chucked the book into the trash can and stomped to her room, saving herself from the trouble of having to justify visiting the library by torturing Beast Boy with approximately fifteen hundred pages worth of words and diagrams.

* * *

Raven's time in the Jump City University of Engineering taught her much about nanotechnology and robots. Thanks to her minute of research, she quickly figured a way to detect the presence of nanobots. Having used her demonic powers to gain access to a hellish plane of existence where she could plot far away from Slade's reach, Raven used the heavenly peace of this hellish world to complete all the tools she needed to detect abnormalities and the presence of nanobots.

"Let's see... Each nanobot emits a nanoscopic pulse that can be detected on a certain wavelength..." Raven thoroughly relished the freedom to think aloud. "Electric field... By tuning this to the frequency of... If the aorta is the largest artery in the whole body, nanobots should exist there in highest concentration..."

Seventeen different plans, one hundred and thirteen diagrams, a hundred and sixty-four nanobots created and destroyed, four hours and a sore right hand later, Raven finally created a blueprint for a special device.

_"Now that I have some technological background, I can combine my powers with my knowledge to make the creation of a lifetime." _Raven rubbed her hands together gleefully.

"Azarath Phenatria Vertutim!" A _very special _cattle prod appeared in her hands. "Hehehe!" Raven gloated as she returned to her plane of existence with it tucked safely within the folds of her cloak.

* * *

As expected, Slade was waiting for her when she returned.

"Where have you been?" He asked innocently.

"Hell." Raven replied. "That's where the titans will be going and I want to make sure they burn."

Slade looked suspicious and unconvinced. Pretending not to notice his skepticism, Raven beckoned a fire-demon.

"Get me a cattle prod." She ordered.

On her telepathic orders, the fire-demon just hovered in front of her. Angrily, Raven tried to smack it with her hand only to have her hand pass right through its flaming chest. As her hand passed through the fire-demon's body, Raven used her powers to sneakily transfer the cattle prod from her cloak to her hand and into its body.

"Go get me a cattle prod!" She roared after she had pretended to realize that hitting the fire-demon was pointless.

The fire-demon left the room and made its way to Raven's weapon maker. She had infused some of her powers within a machine that would allow her and her fire-demons to create any weapon on the planet. Much to Slade's frustration, the machine didn't work for him even though Raven had given him powers. Raven's explanation was that it was because he was not biologically demon in any way. In Raven's words,

"Powers don't make you a demon. Demonic heritage does."

The fire-demon thrust one arm into a rectangular hole on the top of the machine, transferred the cattle prod Raven had given it from its chest to its hand and pulled it out, making it look as though the machine had created it.

When the fire-demon returned, Raven took the cattle prod and went to the titans' holding chambers. Slade's suspicions vanished as he watched her shock each one of them unmercifully despite the fact that they were all unconscious for some reason. As Raven shocked each one of her friends, the cattle prod she had created sent messages right to her brain informing her of any abnormalities.

**_"Nanobots detected."_** It informed Raven. **_"Nanobots detected_****_. Nanobots detected. Nanobots detected._**___** No abnormalities detected.**"_

___"All of them have nanobots injected into them except Terra!"_ Raven fumed. _"Slade must have been using her as his minion until I showed up. That explains why he didn't bother to inject her with nanobots. She working for him!__"_

**_"Unknown chip detected. Electronic wiring detected." _**The cattle prod sounded in her head when Raven angrily slapped Terra's head with it.

_"Unknown chip? Is Terra a robot? No. She has a soul. I can feel it. Slade has been controlling Terra! Ugh. Great! Now I feel awful for hitting her and it's my duty to save her from him as well." _Raven angrily stalked out of the holding chambers.

"It's not fun when they're not awake!" She yelled as she stomped back to her room. She had to at all costs keep up with the charade.

* * *

Back in her room, Raven made another discovery. She discovered that robots - even the nanoscopic ones - usually have component parts made out of metal. This discovery was actually so painfully obvious that Raven felt like an idiot when she realized it. She quickly deduced that the simplest solution was to implant magnets into the titans' bloodstreams, which would magnetically attract the nanobots. Once all the nanobots had been attracted to the magnet, she could retrieve the magnet and destroy everything.

Unfortunately, Raven's solution rapidly brought with it a whole host of problems with regards to Cyborg. She had no idea how his cybernetics worked and wondered if her magnet solution would even work on him because he was mostly made of metal as well. Her first thought was to pay the university another visit but that thought was quickly quashed when she remembered that Cyborg's father had created him and only he and his father truly understood how his body worked.

_"Does he even have a blood stream?" _Raven wondered. _"Probably, since he eats more than anyone I know. After he eats, where does the food go? Does he ever go to the bathroom? Does he have biological parts? If so how do they fuse with his mechanical parts?" _

At that moment, Raven turned to the information she had gleaned from her medical books and from her trip to the engineering library to to help her.

Because of the fact that Cyborg ate and slept like everyone else, Raven figured that he must have retained at least his digestive and circulatory systems. The books on robots taught her that the robotic version of the human circulatory system involved a complex system of wires and circuits. Knowing that the nanobots comprised of electrical and metallic parts, she knew that injecting them into Cyborg's robotic systems would be pointless because the current from his power cell would fry them out. This made it very safe to say that if Slade had injected any nanobots, he would've injected it into Cyborg's biological systems, meaning that Raven's magnet solution would apply to him as well.

This conclusion made Raven uncharacteristically elated, because after a long and arduous thought process, she had finally seen the light at the end of the tunnel.

* * *

Raven walked into the hallway which led to the chambers where her friends were kept. She knew she was about to do something awful and she felt really bad about it. She entered the room where Beast Boy lay and gazed at him. Outwardly, she looked harsh and unloving but inwardly, her heart was breaking.

_"Beast Boy!"_ Raven's heart cried out. _"I can't bear to see you like that. You look so pale, so still. I'm going to have to do something cruel in a little while but it's for your sake. I can't think of any other way to save you. Don't worry, my powers will protect you. No harm will come to you. I promise."_

Raven still felt awful about what was to happen, but she did have one remaining piece of consolation. When Trigon came; she had secretly injected Robin, Starfire, Cyborg and Beast Boy with some of her powers to protect them. While the four no longer felt any traces of her power even when they were together because they weren't the source and such powers do wane over time, some of it was still ingrained deep within them because Raven had never withdrawn the power from them. It was because of this dormant power that the titans enjoyed a small form of immortality, allowing Starfire and Beast Boy to live on despite losing more than half of their blood. It would be this same power that would protect them from all the injuries she was about to bestow upon them in a little while.

_"What about Terra? What am I going to do with her?" _Raven agonized. _"She has no nanobots within her, yet if I spare her from the torture Slade would know that something's up."_

As much as she didn't like Terra, Raven knew deep down that she had to save her too. Slade had handed her over to Raven to be killed. Though Raven didn't want to admit it, she knew that Terra too was a victim of the whole situation. Reluctantly, she implanted a powerful magnet in Terra's chest. As she did so, she infused within Terra's soul some of her powers as well.

* * *

Slade watched Raven implanting magnets within the titans suspiciously. He didn't like where this was going and Raven could sense it. With a demonic chuckle, she ordered some fire-demons to bring the titans to her new mountain fortress. There, a large industrial sized magnet stood waiting, accompanied by an enormous crane.

"Lower the magnet!" Raven ordered as Beast Boy was wheeled under it. Raven accessed her powers within the bodies of all the titans to allow them to regain consciousness at different times on the long journey to the mountain. She had been the one who induced coma on the rest of her friends, but for some reason, Terra's coma seemed to be real because she never woke up even though Raven wasn't controlling her wakefulness. This both puzzled and worried Raven.

"What's going on?" yelled Beast Boy as the magnet above him connected with the equally powerful one in his heart.

"How does it feel to have your heart ripped out of your chest?" Raven thundered as she encased the controls of the crane with her powers. With a flick of the wrist, the crane whirled around in circles. Beast Boy flew through the air, screaming as the two magnets quickly wore the skin on his chest away. He was tossed around in odd, jaunty angles as the magnet picked him up and dropped him again and again.

"Raven!" He screamed. "Raven! Why are you doing this to me?"

"Who is Raven?" Demanded Raven.

"Raven! The girl you used to be!" Beast Boy cried as tears streamed down his face. The pain was unbearable.

"There is no Raven!" She roared in her demonic voice. "Only a demon!"

As Beast Boy's literal heart began to bleed, Raven's inner heart bled with it as well.

_"My powers will protect him."_ She comforted herself. _"I need the magnets to attract all the nanobots without Slade finding out. I just hope that he'll be able to forgive me someday."_

"I know you're somewhere in there!" Beast Boy refused to give up as a searing pain surged up his chest and gripped his throat. "Raven please! Regain control of yourself!"

"Insignificant, mortal fool!" Raven shouted. "How dare you question me? Take him away!"

"Raven!" Screamed Beast Boy as he was hauled away. Raven secretly channeled her powers within him to make him lose consciousness, freeing him from the pain he was in. The torture was repeated with all the other titans. However, Raven could not bear to hear their cries and pleas, so she entered their minds with her powers and only allowed them to scream. Of all the titans, only Beast Boy was allowed to see that their torturer was Raven.

* * *

Having justified the implantation of the magnets, Raven began removing them. She held her hand in front of Beast Boy and seized the magnets within him with her powers, vaporizing them and everything stuck to it before creating new ones which she pulled out of his chest.

"This is your reward for being such a loyal servant." Raven said to Slade as she carelessly tossed him the magnet. Slade caught it easily and watched her do the same with the others until she had a stack of four magnets.

"I want those." Slade stated as he held out his hand. Raven relented after a moment and handed them to him. She then headed for the main room with Slade hot on her heels.

* * *

Slade stopped short and stared at the sight before him. Standing in the main room was a brown donkey and a white mare. Next to them were a rug, a small christmas tree, a picture of an immaculate lawn and a small porcelain sink.

"What is this?" Slade demanded as he turned to Raven.

"Idiot. Must I spell everything out to you?" Raven growled.

"Yes, I think you must." Slade was both bewildered and curious.

"Fine. Ass-" Raven pointed to the donkey. She slowly continued, naming each item as she went. "-A rug, mare, tree, lawn-" Raven picked up the sink. "Sink toss!" She yelled before hurling the sink across the room. Immediately, a small portion of her soul self left her. Unlike her usual black soul self, this one was transparent because it comprised of too little of her soul to be seen.

_"Selective astral projection and a sneaky way to recite my incantation! I love this!" _Raven thought gleefully.

"I know what they are. What I don't know is what they are for." Slade was now convinced that Raven had truly lost her mind.

"Tomorrow, we will take over the city. When we do so, I'll ride into the city in a victory parade with you by my side. I'll put the rug on the mare and ride it and you'll ride the ass bareback with the picture of the lawn hanging around his neck. As those tiny little humans worship me, you will throw trees and I will toss sinks at them." Raven finished.

"Why?" Slade began questioning his loyalty to Raven.

"Because that's what kings and queens do! And I am the queen of the earth! Now stop questioning the things I do!" Raven shouted.

Slade quickly backed down and backed out the door in a flash.

* * *

Raven followed Slade back to his quarters with the portion of her soul self she had released. She was extremely thankful to Azar for teaching her this new trick. Now, she could spy on Slade anytime she wanted for as long as she wanted since small parts of her soul self could exist outside her physical body for indefinite periods of time. And the best part of this whole deal was that the huge slice of her soul that remained within her physical body would allow her to function as though nothing had happened and nothing was missing.

Raven watched as Slade placed the magnets under a scanner.

"No nanobots. That girl is an idiot." Slade mused aloud, completely unaware that he was being watched. "That idiot puts magnets on the outside of someone's heart when putting it inside would attract all the nanobots and get rid of them. But she wouldn't know that because she's just too dumb." Slade shook his head as he carelessly tossed the magnets into the trash can.

_"Oh? I'm the idiot?" _Raven thought. "_He's the idiot who doesn't bother to check if his little nanobots even exist or not!"_

Having picked up a rock that looked downright plain and ordinary, Slade began to speak into it.

"Hell's Princess is so dumb without the help of her teammates and in the control of her demon self that she will not pose a threat."

"_He's speaking to someone!" _Raven moved in closer to listen.

"Are you certain?" Asked another cool, mysterious voice that was not unlike Slade's. Raven was properly confused.

"Yes. The Princess wants to ride into the city while throwing sinks at its inhabitants. Trust me, she is not a threat."

"If that's the case, meet me six minutes to midnight tonight. Be there on the dot, one minute too early or one minute too late and the spell would not work." The conversation ended and Slade put down the rock.

_"Who was he talking to? What spell is he referring to?" _Raven wondered as she watched as Slade disappear into the shadows of the dark hallway, never to be called Slade ever again.


	19. Improbus Daemonium

Raven paced around her room with her thoughts circling in an endless loop. She was trying to decipher Slade's earlier conversation with a mysterious being. Nothing made sense to her, from the rock to the voice to the spell and the timing of the spell. The rock appeared to have no magical significance whatsoever and she had never heard or read about a spell that had to be performed at 11:54PM sharp. Despite her efforts, she was unable to connect the few clues she had to find a lead because of the nature of the clues. Raven's high IQ allowed her to easily twist and turn things she saw to view them from other perspectives. This combined with her keen eye enabled her to spot details that others would often miss, such as when she deduced Slade's location on one occasion merely by swapping an almost invisible reflection around in her head to see that Slade was located at Pier 41 before sharing this revelation with the others. However, because the clues were now audio rather than visual, even Raven's intelligence could not help her now and she was like Beast Boy trying to study quantum physics - completely and utterly lost in a world of confusion.

Although Raven did not know a lot of things, there were several things that she knew. Slade was up to no good at all and that whatever spell he recited would probably lead to a major disaster.

_"Wait a minute. If I've gotten rid of all the nanobots Slade injected into them to make it safe for me to vaporize him, why aren't I vaporizing him this instant?" _Raven wondered. Realizing that she had to stop Slade dead in his tracks, she sent the portion of her soul self that she had released to his quarters to do some scouting first, just to be on the safe side.

* * *

The smige of Raven's soul self seeped through the walls of Slade's headquarters. It rounded a corner and melted through the walls of the room Slade was working in.

"Are you completely certain that the Princess is of no threat? Somehow, I don't trust you. Her power is formidable and her temper fiery. One wrong move and we could all be history." The mysterious voice was speaking to Slade once more.

"I know many of her weaknesses that you do not. When she isn't evil, Raven cares deeply for the titans. So long I have something on them, I can blackmail her with it." Slade replied confidently.

_"Fat hope." _Raven thought. _"I've already dealt with your nanobots and now I'm going to deal with you."_

Just as she was about to teleport her physical body to Slade's location, the voice spoke again.

"This is perfect. With your nanoscopic probes and my spells, the Princess will practically be a puppet in our hands. On behalf of the Improbus Daemonium, it was nice doing evil with you."

"The feeling is mutual." Slade responded coolly before placing the rock back on his desk. Raven however, was far from cool. Instead, she was profusely sweating bullets.

_"The Improbus Daemonium!"_ Raven began to panic and for a very good reason.

The Improbus Daemonium consisted of sixty-five demons who had banded together to form an order. Every single one of them lived and breathed evil. They were loyal to a fault to Trigon and served as his guardians who guarded the gates to different planes of hell. That was all Azar had told Raven about them. Eager to find out more, Raven hastily returned to her room where she used the Bracelet of Athena to absorb all the information from a book Azar had forbidden her to read for an unknown reason. Having decided to disobey Azar for once, Raven quickly began to review all that she had absorbed.

_"**The order is led by eleven powerful demons and fifty-four lesser ones.** 11:54! That explains why the voice told Slade to meet him at 11:54! **The names of the leading demons are: Edwindan, Devil, Devia, Devon... The Improbus Daemonium are the mortal enemies of the Curatorians, who are among the most powerful forces of good in the universe. Only within the realm of Curatoria is anyone safe from the spells of the Improbus Daemonium... The fifty-four lessor demons guard the gates of hell, while the eleven guard the eleven Spheres of Sin. The Spheres of Sin are orbs of swirling dark energy that give those who absorb them power over a certain sin. Each one of Trigon's offspring is born wielding power over a particular sin, but they all have the potential to be able to control and amplify all eleven types of sin. On reaching adulthood at eighteen years of age and full physical and demonic maturity, they are granted the right to inherit all of these abilities, as well as the right to control the order under Trigon's name. However, because the offspring of Trigon rarely live to reach demonic maturity due to the sheer number of enemies they have, no one has ever claimed the eleven spheres."**_

Raven's heart pounded as she tried to recollect her thoughts. The pieces of the puzzle had come together and she clearly saw the big picture. Through his affiliations with Trigon, Slade had somehow discovered the Improbus Daemonium and found someone within the order who was willing to betray the others in exchange for a bribe. Despite the voice apparently speaking on behalf of the entire Improbus Daemonium, Raven doubted that the entire order would turn on Trigon and on her because they feared what would happen if they did so. Slade's ally within the order was acting solely on his words that Raven would be of no harm; a very, very big mistake.

* * *

Now that Raven knew that a powerful demon had cast a spell on her friends, she immediately got to work. According to several charms she owned, demonic spells had been cast upon the titans. The main issue was that she did not know exactly what they entailed. She tried to override the demon's spell by casting a protective spell on the titans in secret, only to find that she was unable too. She had spent so many years of her life learning to suppress the evil within her and fleeing from Trigon that she had neglected to study demonic spells in depth. Even the black magic that Malchoir had taught her seemed to have no effect. With a sinking heart, Raven realized that she knew just too little about the demonic spells of the Improbus Daemonium to overcome it with her magic. She need help and she needed it fast.

Having researched everything she could about the Curatorians, Raven made some new discoveries. The Curatorians were a warlike race who fought against evil with a passion. They acted as guardians of the universe and were responsible for the deaths of many of Raven's half-siblings. With their combined powers, they proved to be such a force that even Trigon left them alone; not because they could destroy him but because they were able to fend off his attacks on many occasions. However, the most surprising thing about the Curatorians was their link with Azarath. Having recognized Azar's power, the Curatorians had offered to join forces with her to eradicate Trigon once and for all. Unfortunately, Azar died before that could happen and Raven eventually dealt with Trigon on her own. Realizing that their former alliance with Azarath might help her convince the Curatorians to allow the titans to live in their realm thus protecting them from the demonic spells of the Improbus Daemonium, Raven began trying to contact them.

**_"The Curatorians have been known to grant protective status to deserving parties on many occasions, the most famous being the time they provided refuge to the royal family of Chrystenxia when they were being pursued by three of Trigon's sons, Jesse, Jacob and Jared. All three were eventually slain by the Curatorians and the magical jewel they stole restored to Chrystenxia. Members of this order frequently traverse the universe, searching for those in need of help. Seeking help from the Curatorians is difficult and receiving help from them hinges on mere chance. However, certain beings have been able to maintain contact with Curatoria without any difficulty. Known beings who have been able to do so are Angella of Queresa, Dreson of Otinium, Abryse of Juris, Azar of Azarath..._**_Wait! Azar? Azar can contact the Curatorians? Azar can contact the Curatorians!" _Raven was delighted beyond comprehension. Slipping her hands under the folds of her cloak, she pulled a pendant - that she had converted to a bracelet - off her right hand. Gripping the pendant in her hand, she closed her eyes and concentrated.

"What is the matter, dear child?" Azar's gentle voice calmed Raven instantly. Azar's voice could be heard by no one else but Raven, meaning that their conversation was essentially silent. However, Raven's voice could be heard by any curious observers, so she remained silent. Azar quickly got the message and connected with Raven's mind so that they could communicate with her thoughts.

_"Azar! The titans need you help! I need your help!" _Raven thought desperately the moment she felt the connection.

_"What seems to be the problem?" _Asked Azar.

_"Slade! He found the Improbus Daemonium and he's working with one of them to destroy the titans! I managed to get rid of Slade's nanobots that he infected them with, but I can't get rid of the spell that some demon placed on them! I read from that book that only in Curatoria will these spells be rendered harmless and that you can contact the Curatorians! Please contact them for me and help me send them there! It's the only way they will be safe!"_

_"The titans probably do not even know of the existence of the Improbus Daemonium, which means the traitor within them must be trying to hurt the titans to control you by using your love for them."_ Azar reflected.

_"That's what I don't understand!" _Raven protested angrily._ "I have on my demonic front and Slade truly believes I'm evil! If I'm evil and I hate the titans, how can I be blackmailed into being their puppet to save my friends? Why would I want to save them?"_

_"Did Slade and his ally say anything about a spell to be performed at 11:54 tonight?" _Asked Azar gently.

_"Yes! Yes! He did! How did you know?" _Raven was practically screeching in her head.

_"There is one spell used by the Improbus Daemonium on disobedient demons that has to be performed at exactly 11:54 at night. The spell removes about half of the evil from a demon, making it easier to control them. After a period of time, the evil will return to them, but not before they have been restrained. Even within those who delight in creating disorder, some order must reign."_

_"That means the spell they were planning to cast on me would take effect on my demonic side, reducing the evil within me. Because of my new powers, I'm supposed to be three quarters evil and a quarter good, but thanks to all the new things you taught me, I'm still half evil and half good. But because my evil side apparently overpowered my good side, Slade still thinks that I'm three quarters evil and a quarter good. From his point of view, reducing the evil within me would result in me being only three-eights evil and five-eights good, making me ultimately good. I would then become good where he'll be able to blackmail me by threatening to hurt the titans. He would make me do whatever he wanted me to do until the evil returned to me and the cycle would go on and on and I'll wind up being their good puppet!" _Raven spewed out her mathematical rant. The stress of the situation was slowly taking its toll on her.

_"The spell will in actual fact have no effect on you because you're already good but they do not know it." _Azar reassured her. _"I will help you contact the Curatorians. It should take me several minutes, so you'll have a little time to say your goodbyes. __You need not worry my child, the Improbus Daemonium fear and respect you. So long you are living, you friends will be safe."_

_"Thanks Azar." _Once again, Raven's mentor and guardian had come to her rescue to bail her out of a desperate situation.

* * *

Raven dashed to the chambers where her friends were held. Her hands trembled as she undid the chains that bound them securely to the floor. She worked methodically, removing their retrains before using her powers to carry them to Robin's room. She did Beast Boy last, mainly because there was something she wanted to do for him.

_"Beast Boy!" _Raven's heart cried out as she gently smoothed his matted hair. _"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I hope that someday you'll understand and forgive me for torturing you, for all that betrayal and hurt. But if you don't, I understand. Beast Boy... I-I-I think-I know- That I love you."_ Raven stopped short. She had just made a confession to herself. She loved Beast Boy. She never thought that this would happen, but as she stared as his peaceful and relaxed face caked in blood, she found her heart bursting with love. She had lived in denial the whole time, denying that she liked Beast Boy, denying that he was funny, denying that he was cute and denying that she loved him. But that was about to change. Knowing that she no longer needed to maintain her cover because the Curatorians had already been alerted, Raven suppressed her demonic side and spoke.

"Azarath Phenatria Vertutim." She recited before standing up and walking over to his feet.

Painstakingly, she undid the Velcro straps and untied his laces before pulling Beast Boy's right shoe off his foot. Carefully, she slid the item that she had created into it and put the shoe back on. Using some of her creative ingenuity that she so rarely used, Raven tied the lace into a nice, neat bow before refastening the straps. Having done so, she returned to Beast Boy's side and sat next to him. As hard as she tried, she could not bear to look directly into his face. Holding out her hand, she healed him from all his injuries.

"I love you so much." She whispered as a tear slid down her cheek. At that moment, a white portal opened and a shimmering figure appeared.

"I am Aurora of Curatoria. I am here for Robin, Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy and Terra." She announced.

"You can take them." Raven said calmly before gesturing towards her friends.

Aurora lifted up one hand and picked up the five titans telepathically before disappearing into the portal with them, leaving Raven behind, alone and angry.

* * *

Beast Boy opened his eyes and immediately snapped them shut again. After several moments of squinting, he finally forced one eyelid open.

"Where am I?" He groaned as four faces peering down on him sharpened into view.

"We're not sure." Replied Robin hesitantly. "All we know is that we're in a strange flower garden of some sort surrounded by high walls and that we've all be healed from our injuries. I'm thinking that these flowers have healing properties."

"This place is most lovely! Most, very, quite, so, so lovable!" Exclaimed Starfire as Beast Boy took Cyborg's hand and rose to his feet.

"Calm down!" Laughed Terra, amused by the alien's expression of her delight.

The five titans looked around, awed by the sheer beauty of the garden and the majesty of the high walls. Just as Starfire stooped down to sniff the roses, everything disappeared and they found themselves face to face with a large golden gate of what looked like a palace. The whole place was spotless and white and the entire structure seemed to be made out of marble and gold. Without a warning, the gate smoothly opened inward, revealing a tall figure in a dazzling white robe. A brilliant light shone from where its face should be, giving the figure a divine appearance.

"Welcome to Curatoria." Said the figure in a musical voice. "I am Aurora of the Curatorians. Please, do enter."

Bewildered, the titans gingerly tiptoed through the gate.

"Are we in heaven?" Whispered Terra. "Are we dead?"

"I don't think so." Robin responded before turning to Aurora. "Can you tell us why we're here?"

"Certainly. Once you have made yourselves comfortable in your quarters, I shall be honored to tell you more." Aurora replied before leading them to their individual rooms.

* * *

Though their rooms each resembled a king's chamber, the titans sprinted out of them as though they were garbage dumps, eagerly following Aurora into a lounge where they were fed with the most glorious food they had ever tasted in their lives. Once they began to settle down, the light disappeared from Aurora's face and she sat down with them.

_"Woah." _Cyborg thought. _"She's pretty. Real pretty."_

"What's going on? Why are we here?" Asked Robin, the straightforward leader who delighted in getting to the point.

"Yeah! Where is this place? Who are you?" Cyborg chimed in.

"You are in the home of the Curatorians, an ancient order who devotes their time to protecting the helpless from great evil." Aurora replied.

"Helpless? You're kidding!" Cyborg exclaimed heatedly. "We're superheroes! Get it? Superheroes! As in we protect other people, not receive protection ourselves!"

"You are facing a great evil." Aurora replied plainly. "Only here will you be safe."

"What do you mean by 'only here'?" Demanded Cyborg.

"Be quiet and let Aurora speak!" Ordered Robin sternly. "Who sent us here?"

"You've been sent here by a powerful friend of yours who is also one of our allies. Perhaps you know her." Aurora paused dramatically. "She's Azar of Azarath."

"Azar?" Beast Boy frowned. "I think you mean Raven of Azarath."

"No, Azar was the one who contacted us from her plane of existence." Aurora corrected his correction. "She said that she was watching out for you and requested that we help you."

"What about Raven? What's happened to Raven?" asked Beast Boy anxiously.

"I have no idea what happened to her."

"No idea? Azar is Raven's guardian! If you can contact Azar, you'll definitely be able to contact Raven as well!" Beast Boy protested.

Aurora frowned. She was very confused indeed. She had seen a woman dressed in a blue cloak and black leotard near the titans before she had collected them and surmised that she must be Raven, but she still had very strong doubts, mainly because of what she knew about Raven. She knew that Raven was the daughter of Trigon and that was all she knew and needed to know. She had met and fought with Raven's half-brothers before and knew that the demonic children of Trigon had an evil aura that she, Aurora, could easily sense. The woman she met however, had no such aura, nor did she have the four red eyes that the offspring of Trigon had. She had also thought that none of Trigon's children were capable of loving, yet she had heard the woman tell the green titan that she loved him just before she arrived. None of this added up, forcing Aurora to surmise that the woman was not Raven.

"I am not able to contact her." Aurora said bluntly without even thinking about asking the titans for a description of Raven. "Azar said nothing about her."

"Raven went to Azar's plane of existence! She can contact Azar! Maybe she asked Azar to help ask for help on her behalf!" Beast Boy persisted.

"That is not likely. Raven herself has the ability to contact us but she didn't. Azar was the one who could and did ask." Aurora responded. This was something that Aurora knew that Raven and even Azar didn't know. Because of Azar's tutelage, Raven was entitled to ask for help from the Curatorians. The only problem about that was that she didn't know how to contact them because she was never taught how to.

"Do you know if she's alive?" Asked Robin anxiously, the image of Raven's spaceship blowing up fresh in his mind.

"I'm not certain as to whether she lives or not." Aurora replied sadly, completely oblivious to the fact that she had just met Raven herself an hour ago.

"Do you know anything about her?" Pressed Robin.

"Not really." Aurora replied before she brightened up. Leaping to her feet, she dashed out of the lounge and returned with another woman who bore a striking resemblance to her. "This is my sister, Aurena. I'm a warrior but she's a scholar, so she can tell you more." Aurora smiled. "Don't bore them to death with your scholarly talk. I'm going for training!" She called over her shoulder as she pranced out of the lounge.

"I am Aurena." The woman smiled and took a place among the titans, who each returned her smile. "What do you wish to know?"

"What do you know about Azarath's Raven? Do you know anything besides the fact that she's Trigon's daughter and she's really powerful?" Asked Robin.

"There have been rumors. Ugly rumors." Aurena said softly.

"Rumors?" Beast Boy perked up. "Rumors about what?

"Trigon and his offspring." Aurena replied. "It is not known how many children Trigon has, but what we do know in these worlds is that Raven is his only surviving child left because she was protected by Azar and the monks of Azarath. Almost all of the rest of them were slain by our warriors for their crimes and cruelty. Raven was supposed to be the only child of Trigon remaining but recently, all of that has changed. Another one of Trigon's demon spawn has emerged from the shadows of earth. He claims to be Trigon's son and wields the great power of the demon king himself. His name is Seigon."

"Earth? Trigon has more children on earth?" Robin crossed his arms as he contemplated the implications of this piece of news.

"Raven has a brother?" Beast Boy clutched his head. "Why didn't she tell us?"

"I doubt she knew it herself." Aurena replied in a grave whisper. "Raven's brother is rumored to be trying to kill her for some reason. Other sources say that she is the one trying to kill him while still others claim that he has already killed her."

A breathless, flustered Curatorian appeared at the doorway before Aurena could continue.

"It's Azarath's Raven!" He cried. "Fryon and I were spying on the Improbus Daemonium and we just overheard Devon saying 'Raven is dead'!"

"What?" Screeched the five titans in unison.

"Are you sure that's what you heard?" Asked Aurena, who was starting to betray some anxiety.

"Yes! He was talking to Devia! He told her 'It's such a pity. She had so much potential and now she's dead.'"

"You're lying!" Beast Boy screamed as he leapt to his feet. "She's alive!"

"No she's not!" Retorted the Curatorian. "Fryon and I checked the Stone of Azarath! It's stopped glowing! She's really dead!"

"The Stone of Azarath?" Beast Boy stopped short. Aurena was quick to explain.

"When Raven entered her teens, she was deemed as a threat to the universe because of the great powers that she had even at that age. Grandis - our leader - asked Azar for proof that Raven was truly good and that she was able to control her powers, so Azar had Raven channel some of her powers into a special stone, which she then sent to Curatoria. Only those who are good can inject their powers into the stone and it takes great skill to be able to do so. As a result, Grandis ordered our warriors to leave her alone. Raven's dark energy has remained within that stone until now and they cause it to glow red. When Raven dies, her soul will leave her physical body and travel to another plane of existence. Since Raven isn't Trigon, she cannot spread her powers between planes of existence, meaning that her powers can no longer exist within our plane of existence. This is why her powers will be withdrawn upon her death from everything that she had injected them into. Since the stone no longer glows, it means that her dark energy has been withdrawn from it and that means... That Raven is dead."

The others stared at Aurena in shock and horror, the pain of their supposed loss slowly sinking in.

"How long has the stone stopped glowing?" Asked Robin, the first of the titans to find his voice.

"Nobody knows. The stone lies within the hall dedicated to Azarath. It just stays there. We don't watch it perpetually." Aurena replied softly. "I'm so sorry for your loss."

"It doesn't matter! Nothing matters anymore!" cried Beast Boy as he fled the lounge, tears streaming down his face.

As Starfire began to cry as well, Robin's heart sank. Slade had killed Raven right before his very eyes. Could it be that Slade was actually her brother? Trembling, Robin excused himself and fled to his room, his heart palpitating.

_"I've lost the battle for Raven! I've lost the battle for good. Evil wins." _Robin groaned as he fell to the floor. _"Slade killed Raven! Whether he is her brother or not, she's dead and her brother will win! What have I done?" _Robin covered his face in his hands and despaired.

* * *

Beast Boy washed his face with a heavy heart. He had been crying for many hours now. He couldn't believe that Raven was really dead, yet he couldn't deny the facts.

_"I never got the chance to tell her that I love her and now she's dead." _He thought as he stared at the mirror with his swollen eyes. _"She's dead. Life is so unfair. Villains like Slade are allowed to live on yet good people like Raven are the ones who have to die."_

Having slammed his fist onto the bathroom countertop, Beast Boy fought back the tears that threatened to flow again. He tried to distract himself by thinking about the night's events. He had withheld information with regards to seeing Raven and her torturing him because he didn't want the other titans to judge her and say that she had become evil. He had wanted to believe that deep down, she was still good, yet he himself had struggled with that issue. He had seen Raven with her demonic voice and red eyes, clear signs that she had truly lost control. However, what had hurt him the most during the torture was not the physical pain but rather the emotional pain. The last thing he ever wanted to see was Raven being controlled by her demonic side, unable to regain control over herself. He almost pitied her because he felt that she had lost her freedom and her right to live as she wanted. And now she was dead.

With those thoughts weighing down on his mind, Beast Boy kicked off his shoes, climbed into bed and climbed right back out. He had heard something drop onto the hard marble floor. With mounting curiosity, he dropped down to his hands and knees and began searching for what he had heard. Having crawled around in this manner for a moment, he morphed into a cat and crawled under the bed. With his extraordinary night vision, he quickly located a strange object and picked it up in his mouth. Crawling out from under the bed, he morphed back into his human form and raced to the bathroom. There, he washed the object under running water and polished it on his uniform. When he was done, he looked at the finished product with tearful eyes. Lying in his hand was a shiny black rock shaped like a raven in flight.

"Raven!" He spoke aloud in a voice full of hope and wonder. "What is the meaning of this?" He wondered as he clenched the rock within his fist, trying to keep himself from having another meltdown.

As Beast Boy stood there in a daze, he felt the rock become warm as it absorbed heat from his hand. When he unclenched his fist, a four foot tall dark energy raven escaped from the rock. It let out the cry of the raven as flew upward with its wings outstretched and remained in that position for several seconds before swooped down and returned to the rock.

"She lives." He breathed in awe. _"Her powers. They still exist within our plane of existence. She lives! And she still cares! She's not really evil, she's just pretending to be evil! She must've done that to trick Slade into giving us to her! It wasn't Azar who sent us here, it was Raven!"_

By now, Beast Boy was trembling uncontrollably with joy and relief.

_"She must've put this in my shoe before we were brought here, which wasn't that long ago. To do that, she must have pulled off my shoe, put this in and put it back on. She did all that to show me she still cares. She still cares! She's still good! It's all good!" _

Beast Boy stood there as if he was in a trance. All the anxiety, fear, pain and distrust that had cumulated up to now had faded away and everything was crystal clear to him. Raven did everything she did to save them. He couldn't understand how she had allowed her demonic side to surface without really losing control or why the Stone of Azarath stopped glowing, but he now knew that everything was all an act. He had seen her powers at work before his very eyes and he now knew that the one who was the source of these powers still lived to control them.

_"It's very late. I'll share this news with the other titans tomorrow." _Beast Boy decided.

As he returned to his room and curled up in his warm and comfortable bed, several tears rolled down his cheeks. However, this time, his tears were tears of joy. They were tears of joy, tears of relief and most importantly, tears of love.

Fitful sleep having cast its spell upon him, there was never a happier Beast Boy who fell asleep.


	20. The Battle Begins

Raven silently stood stock still, her hands by her side and her fists tightly clenched. She was angry. In fact, angry was probably a gross understatement. She was livid. All she wanted was for things to go back to the way they were and to reunite with her friends but once more, Slade had gotten in the way. She had come so close to saving them and destroying him only to have her plans thwarted once more.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven recited. Her dark energy wrapped up her physical self and she was off to find Slade. By then, it was already 11:50 PM.

* * *

Raven followed Slade to his room and stood in a corner unnoticed as he picked up the same stone he had used to communicate with his ally within the Improbus Daemonium. She listened carefully as he began to speak.

**"By the power of Raven and this mystical stone,**

**By their power here I stand.**

**To the Improbus Daemonium's golden throne,**

**Transport me to the demons' land."**

A glowing red portal opened right in front of Slade and he quickly stepped through it. When Raven tried to follow, an unknown power within the portal prevented her from doing so. She could only watch helplessly as the portal closed. Having looked to the floor, she saw that the stone had fallen to the ground. Eagerly, Raven picked it up and examined it.

_"Slade said 'By the power of Raven', which means he was relying on my power." _Raven suddenly perked up with a bright idea.

**"By the power of Trigon and this mystical stone,**

**By their power here I stand.**

**To the Improbus Daemonium's golden throne,**

**Transport me to the demons' land."**

The same glowing red portal appeared. Raven levitated into the air and flew through it. The portal closed behind her and she found herself blitzing past demonic worlds of every kind.

_"I can't believe that a plain ordinary rock is actually the portal to the dens of evil." _Raven sighed. _"Why can't some magical things look more magical for once?" _

* * *

Raven was fuming when she arrived at the Improbus Daemonium's arrival triangle, mostly because it took her so long to get there. The arrival triangle was a large room that resembled the interior of a pyramid and it had one door on each of its three walls.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." Raven whispered. Her soul self engulfed her and she hovered below the pointed ceiling, waiting for something to happen.

Raven waited for forty seconds before one of the three doors opened and a tall figure stepped through. The demon stood at roughly eight feet tall. It had no visible physical features as it wore a black helmet with no eyeholes. It was of a muscular build and wore a suit of armor with demonic incantations inscribed all over it. It carried an intimidating spear that glowed red and spoke in a booming voice that filled the room.

"Seigon, son of Trigon. The Improbus Daemonium welcomes you." It thundered in a deep voice that sounded anything but inviting.

_"Sei what now?" _Raven thought as she stared at the two in consternation.

"It is good to be home." Slade said carefully.

"I can sense a powerful demonic presence in this room. Seigon, you really are something." The demon commented as he motioned for Slade to walk through one of the doors.

_"That powerful demonic presence is me!" _Raven fumed. _"Demonic dolt." _She thought as she followed behind them.

* * *

The demon and Slade walked into a pitch black room. As they entered the room, it lit up in a brilliant flash of light as inscriptions on the walls began to glow.

"You really are the son of Trigon." The demon said in awe. "We demons are glad that Trigon has another child who can lead us. Not only is that sister of yours a hero from Azarath, she is also has no loyalty. The way she just came back from Azar and left her so called friends at your mercy is revolting. We fear that she may do that to us as well."

"It's 11:54." Slade reminded him.

"Yes, yes. Memorize what I tell you and repeat it word for word." The demon ordered as he directed Slade to lay his hands on a pillar full of glowing inscriptions.

**"Evil is good but too much evil bad.**

**Good is evil and good is bad.**

**Yet good is good when one is too bad,**

**Out of Azarath's Raven remove half her bad."**

Before Slade could repeat what the demon had said, Raven materialized before them.

"Seigon oh, Seigon you are far from my brother. I know that you're Slade, an incessant bother. Trigon is not and will never be your father, you are an impostor; the child of another."

"Your highness!" Screeched the demon the moment he realized who she was.

"Senio Sergi Sivere Daemonicia!" Six fire-demons appeared behind Raven and began to attack Slade, who used the powers she had given him to fend off their attacks. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven roared. To her amazement, she was unable to withdraw the power from him. Perplexed, she tried again only to be faced with the same result.

"Seigon!" The demon who had almost helped Slade with the spell was both flustered and astonished.

"There is no Seigon!" Raven snarled. "This is Slade!"

By now, the angry Raven had blown the roof off the dark room and light from the red sky began streaming in.

"I am not Slade!" Slade gasped as the fire-demons pushed him to the floor.

"Who is Slade?" Asked the demon anxiously.

"Sis, I am no longer known as Slade. Slade was the name that my mother gave me. When Brutus agreed to help me with the spell, he accepted me as Seigon. It's understood among demons that I'm now known as Seigon and that I'm never to be called Slade ever again." Slade tried to explain.

"I am not your sister." Raven hissed. "And Trigon is not your father. I gave you these powers, not him."

"If that's the case, then why were you unable to take my powers away?" Slade questioned coolly as her fire-demons pinned him to the wall.

"You have done something." Raven declared. "You are not my brother and you never will be. I will find out what you have done and I will take my power back."

"You can't take back what is not yours." Replied Slade calmly. "Our father gave us powers of our own. I can't take your powers away and neither can you take mine away. Having a sibling means you have to share everything that our father gives us, sister." Raven felt as though she was going to vomit.

"Azarath-"

"-What is going on?" Thundered a demon who stood taller and larger than the others. A large group of demons had gathered around the three. "Brutus!" Yelled the demon the moment he saw Brutus trying to free Slade from the fire-demons' grasp.

"What do you want, Edwindan?" Brutus crossed his arms in defiance.

"An explanation." Edwindan growled. "Who is this fellow with the orange mask and who is this woman?"

"This is Seigon. He's an illegitimate child of Trigon which means he won't be able to inherit the throne of the Improbus Daemonium and neither is he entitled to any of the eleven spheres." Brutus replied.

_"Are you kidding me?"_ Raven was incredulous.

"And this woman here is Raven, the our queen and Trigon's little princess who fights evil and is closely associated with the Azarathians." Brutus spat out. The demons immediately removed their helmets and knelt down before Raven.

"Excuse our ignorance, your appearance has not been made known to us." Edwindan said humbly.

_"Why are they being so nice when they all live and breathe evil? And did he say 'queen'?" _Raven crossed her arms as she thought hard.

"Allow me to introduce myself." Said Slade as Brutus finally succeeded in freeing him from Raven's fire-demons. "My name is Seigon and I was born as an illegitimate child after Trigon raped my human mother. I've been living in the shadows all these years because Trigon cared much more about Raven than he did for me. I do have some powers but as a child whose father refused to acknowledge him, I've missed out on a lot."

Raven glared at Slade angrily. She knew that he was lying but his lie was so skillful that it would be hard for her to rebut him. By claiming to be an illegitimate child, Slade had excused himself from having to explain why Trigon ignored him, why he wasn't as powerful as Raven or her real brothers and why he wasn't granted the ability to induce and amplify a certain sin. To make matters worse, Raven now sensed that Slade too was half-demon and it puzzled her to the core. Up until now, Raven had sensed that Slade was fully human which meant that he must have done something to make himself appear half-demon very recently. However, she couldn't seem to figure out how he had done that because she had destroyed Trigon, making it impossible for Slade to sell half of his soul to him.

_"Humans do not just become half-demons like that, even though this particular human has caused me more pain than all of the Improbus Daemonium put together." _Raven clenched her fists. She was furious beyond comprehension but she was mature enough to know that making any outbursts at this point would be to her detriment. The Improbus Daemonium would simply figure that she was making so much noise out of jealousy and completely disregard her from then on. As a result, she remained silent as she watched Slade with a truly evil look on her face. She needed to lawyer up and speak up at the right time and in the right tone.

"Since I'm also a child of Trigon, I deserve a chance to prove to you that I would make a better leader than your current queen." Slade said confidently. "Your queen is not evil. She is part of a team of superheroes called the Teen Titans and she spends her days fighting evil. I on the other hand, live for evil, chaos and vengeance. Who would you rather serve, your prim and proper queen or I, the lover of evil?" The demons began nodding their heads and murmuring in agreement.

"If I am not evil like you say so, then why did you try to recite a spell at 11:54 that would remove half of the evil out of me?" Raven summoned the force of her cunning. "If I'm already good, why would you need to take measures to make me good?" With the tables turned, the demons began glaring at Slade. Raven quickly monopolized the turning of the tide to her advantage. "You know that I'm evil." She began walking in circles around Slade. "And it intimidates you. To make yourself feel better, you tried to make me less evil so that you would look like Trigon in comparison to me. How can someone so insecure make a good leader?" She asked the demons. They were completely and utterly swayed.

"Raven has no loyalty." Slade declared in response before playing a holographic video. "Watch her packing up and leaving the titans to their deaths at my hands. A good leader would stay with the team while a bad one abandons her team. Are you sure you want to be led by someone who could abandon you in battle at any minute?"

"Correction, an evil leader does what is best for herself. A good leader like Slade, does what is best for the team. Like I said, Slade isn't evil. I am. If he isn't evil, how can he lead the cause for evil? And since I am evil, why would I abandon the cause of evil?"

"Well said!" Edwindan shouted and all the demons began cheering.

"If you are actually evil, explain why you have been fighting for the cause of good all this while." Slade's new tactic was now to tear Raven down instead of building himself up.

"Simple. I fought evil on earth because I was insulted by the way that evil was portrayed by what humans call 'villains'. They think that their puny toys, pathetic powers and pitiful rampages make them evil. That's why I sought to defeat them. They are making evil look like child's play. Why should I - the daughter of Trigon - stand for these miserable displays of fake evil? I didn't fight them for the cause of good, I fought them for the cause of evil. There can only be true evil and imitation is just wrong."

"Let's give it up for our queen!" Yelled one demon. The demons erupted in loud albeit deep cheers.

"You could've just fought fake evil on you own. Why would you need to alliance yourself with a superhero group?" Slade persisted.

"So that I could play with their emotions." Raven replied easily. "I needed something to do when I wasn't showing off my power."

"What about Azar? Why did you go to Azar's plane of existence for help if you were truly evil?" Slade was throwing at her everything he had.

"Trigon gave me powers but he didn't teach me how to control them. I was just using Azar to learn how to control my powers. Once I was done, I left because I hated the heavenly atmosphere of the place." Raven shuddered.

"Yeah!" Yelled a particularly rowdy demon.

"If you were really evil, you wouldn't have destroyed our father. Instead, you would've ruled by his side." Slade was quickly running out of ideas.

"Why would I want to rule by his side when I could rule on my own?" Raven demanded. "He may be my father but that doesn't mean I'm going to share control over the universe with him."

As the demons began to cheer once again, Slade remained silent. Raven was just too good with words.

"Regardless of what and who Raven is, but I still deserve a chance to fight for the throne and my rightful inheritance." He said finally. He had not given up yet, but at this point, his original plan had failed.

* * *

Slade had planned to conquer the titans by first conquering Raven, the most powerful member of the group in a series of steps which he had listed out nicely in his head.

_1) When Raven leaves, torture and torment the titans until their morale is depleted._

_2) Take control of Terra's mind and manipulate the weakened titans into accepting her onto the team._

_3) Record and document Raven's return and her leaving the titans because of Terra._

_4) When Raven comes through, tell her that unless she gives me powers, I will kill her friends._

_5) Use powers that Raven gives me to kill a demon, store its soul in a jewel and keep the jewel in utility belt at all times so that demons will think that I'm half-demon and Raven cannot take my powers away like Trigon did._

_6) Use magical stone stolen from Raven - who doesn't even know she has it - to contact the Improbus Daemonium._

_7) Find a traitor within the Improbus Daemonium and win him to my side by pretending to be an illegitimate child of Trigon and proving to him that Raven doesn't deserve everything she has from Trigon._

_8) Learn spell to make Raven truly good from traitor and recite it._

_9) Use her leaving to prove to the Improbus Daemonium that not only is Raven not evil, she is also disloyal and could abandon them in battle._

_10) Convince the eleven leading demons that I deserve the eleven Spheres of Sin more than the pure Raven who now looks completely good to them because she has so little evil within her._

_11) Absorb the eleven Spheres of Sin and use new abilities to defeat and kill Raven._

_12) Defeat the titans who are powerless without Raven._

_13) Get everything that I ever wanted._

While there was a hiccup on step 4 when Raven returned supposedly evil instead of good, Slade was still able to convince her to give him powers. Bigger difficulties came in at step 7, when he was trying to convince Brutus the traitor to help him. Because Raven now wore her demonic front, Brutus came to fear her instantaneously the moment he came to earth and saw her. He feared her power so much that Slade had to go to great lengths to prove that she posed no threat to them and that she would not destroy them should she find out about their plan to take her entire inheritance and position as queen of the Improbus Daemonium away from her.

However, it was only at step 8 when Raven derailed his entire plan by showing up before he could recite the spell. He would've had Brutus do it earlier, if not for the fact that only he could do it because unlike Brutus, his powers were indirectly from Trigon, which meant that only he could remove evil from Raven. Now that Raven had totally ruined everything, not only did the demons believe she was more evil than him, they seemed to be angry with him. There was no way for him to convince them to give him the eleven Spheres of Sin when they now clearly favored Raven. Plan A was now thrown out of the window but that didn't mean Slade didn't have a plan B. As he watched the demons discussing what to do among themselves, he sincerely hoped that Raven wouldn't mess this up for him again.

* * *

Beast Boy strode into the lounge with a huge grin on his face. His expression was sharply juxtaposed with the grief-stricken expressions of his teammates. Starfire's hair looked as though a tornado had blown through it while the slightly neater Terra had puffy eyes. Cyborg wore the look that devastated men wear when they are trying not to cry.

"You look awfully happy for someone who just lost the-" Cyborg stopped short, leaving everyone hanging. He had intended to finish his sentence with 'love of his life' but was fortunately able to catch himself. Beast Boy had explicitly warned him not to tell anyone about his feelings for Raven.

"I've got- where's Robin?" Beast Boy asked.

"He has done the leaving." Said Starfire brokenly as the tears began to flow once more.

"Leaving? Why would he do that?" Beast Boy demanded.

"I do not do the knowing!" Starfire bawled as Terra tried to comfort her.

"Aurora said that she found him at the gates last night during her patrol duty and he looked depressed. She asked him what was wrong but he refused to say anything, so she told him to go inside and he did. By morning, he was gone." Cyborg sighed.

"Gone? Where?" Beast Boy was now genuinely worried.

"Dunno. Aurora and several warriors have gone to look for him." Cyborg said softly. "B, this is serious. Robin is in big trouble. Aurora says she can only sense four human souls within the whole of Curatoria, which means Robin has somehow left the realm of Curatoria itself. Aurena is going crazy right now because apparently, some kind of demon cast a spell on us and it's only here that we'll be safe from it. So long Robin stays outside, the demon who cast spell could kill him."

"What?" Beast Boy screeched. "Why didn't she tell us that earlier?"

"She didn't want us to worry and she didn't think that any one of us would try to leave." Cyborg replied as he cast a sympathetic look in Starfire's direction.

"If Robin left, where would he go?" Terra suddenly spoke up. "Where exactly are we?"

"Aurena says that Curatoria is an inter-dimensional world like Azarath. The only difference is that Curatoria is much easier to enter and leave. You don't need to be Raven and have all sorts of magical stuff to get in and get out. Since one of their animals that looks like a Pegasus is missing, Aurena thinks that Robin took it, rode it out the gate and down the footpath and out of this dimension. She says that once he's left he'll return to the dimension he came from with their flying horselike thing."

"Aren't there guards or anything to stop him from leaving?" Terra inquired as she softly patted the sobbing Starfire's head.

"No. They don't have guards. Their warriors are so powerful that they don't need them." Cyborg said tiredly.

"Why would Robin leave?" Beast Boy wondered. "He knows that it's dangerous out there. It just doesn't sound like him to run off like that."

"Yesterday he became very pale when we heard about Raven's death. He just this guilty look on his face. It's almost as though he felt responsible for it." Cyborg said thoughtfully.

"Robin would never do the killing of friend Raven!" Cried Starfire indignantly.

"Easy Star. We're not accusing him of anything." Cyborg said quickly. Starfire looked at him disbelievingly.

"Robin didn't kill Raven." Beast Boy said firmly. "Check this out." He said before producing the black stone from his pocket and laying it on the table.

* * *

"Order!" shouted Edwindan as he motioned for Slade and Raven to stand on two different platforms. They had all gathered in the judgement hall of the Improbus Daemonium to decide if Slade would be allowed to battle Raven for her position and inheritance. "Devia, if you will." He motioned for one of the demons to stand.

"When a legitimate child of Trigon is born, eleven Spheres of Sin are created with their first breath and are given to us to guard. The eleven spheres that we now guard all belong to Raven, Trigon's sole surviving legitimate child." Devia was clearly the lawyerly one of the group. "However, according to the demon code, a legitimate child of Trigon can forfeit his or her inheritance by behaving in a manner contrary to the laws of evil. The spheres are then given to one of Trigon's illegitimate childen. Although Raven has proven that she is evil, she has lived a questionable life and said questionable things. In addition, her upbringing by the Azarathians further blurs her evil identity. As a result, we are unable to judge whether Raven has actually broken any laws that would allow Seigon to receive her inheritance. However, due to the sheer amount of grey areas, we also cannot assume that Raven has not broken any laws and that she is still entitled to her inheritance. Consequently, us guardians of the Spheres of Sin have delivered the verdict that each sphere will go to the child of Trigon who can prove that they are more worthy of it. Defian, please inform them how it is done."

"Devia! Why do you always have to make simple things sound complicated?" Asked Defian as he stood.

"It sounds complicated to you because you weren't listening." Devia retorted.

"Yes I was!" Defian insisted.

"Enough!" Ordered Edwindan. "Defian, since you think you can do a better job than Devia, I welcome you to try."

"Okay!" He said brightly. "Because of a lot of things that has happened, we don't know which one of you the eleven spheres belongs to, so you're going to have to fight for them. Sounds simple enough?"

"Devia, you really are longwinded and complex." Commented another demon. "And I thought Demona was bad."

"Devil! Shut up!" Yelled Demona.

"Enough." Edwindan groaned. "Devia, tell us what is going to happen to the Sphere of Pride."

"As the guardian of the Sphere of Pride, I am pleased to announce that I will relinquish the sphere to Raven since she already has the ability to amplify and induce Pride due to her legitimacy. The inheritance stated in the law actually refers to the other ten sins that Raven cannot induce and it will be for those other ten Spheres of Sin that Seigon and Raven will fight for. For those with objections, the Sphere of Pride is counted as Raven's no matter how she behaves and no matter how many laws she breaks. Raven, receiving this sphere will allow you to control, manipulate and amplify Pride with unrestrained freedom, something that you are not able to do now. Are you ready?"

"Yes." Raven said confidently before stepping down from the platform and approaching Devia. She held her breath and tried not to smirk. Slade was going to be so very jealous.

"Close your eyes." Said Devia taking Raven's two hands in hers. Raven obeyed and Devia began the ceremony.

**_"Sphere of Pride, Sphere of Pride,_**

**_The emotion who makes the united divide._**

**_Be free of me, flee from my side,_**

**_And go to her who shall be your guide._**

**_With Trigon's Raven you shall abide,_**

**_With power over Pride you shall provide._**

**_Sphere of Pride, Sphere of Pride,_**

**_Be free of me, flee from my side,_**

**_Be free of me, flee from my side..."_**

The entire hall watched with rapt attention as a swirling orb of dark energy left Devia's chest and hovered in the air between the two.

"Release your soul self." Devia whispered.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." Raven said in a barely audible voice. The demons watched in awe as her raven filled the room and sent shivers down their spines with a resounding shriek. The orb then disintegrated and fused with Raven's soul self, which then returned to her in a flash. Shocked and stunned, Raven fell to the ground.

"The transfer is complete." Devia announced as she helped Raven to her feet.

"Go Raven!" Yelled Defian.

"Shut up Defian!" Roared the fiery Demona.

"Demona..." Groaned Edwindan. "Defian, please tell Seigon and Raven how they are going to fight for the other ten Spheres of Sin."

"You got it!" Defian said cheerfully. "Since both of you have mothers originating from earth, you will prove to us that you deserve a particular sphere on earth. Let's say you two are fighting for Greed. The one who manages to induce more greed among humans will be more deserving of the sphere and will receive the Sphere of Greed. Simple?"

Raven and Slade both nodded before turning to glare at each other. Both were relatively pleased with the outcome because it favored neither. Deep down, Raven had feared that she would lose the eleven spheres altogether because she knew that the demons frowned upon her upbringing and superhero status. Slade in contrast had feared that the demons would figure that he wasn't actually Trigon's illegitimate son and completely disregard him. The two left the judgement hall with two different vows. One vowed to expose the other for being the fraud that he was while the other vowed to carry out his plan to get everything he ever wanted.

* * *

Having set a date on when Raven and Slade were to battle for the first sphere - the Sphere of Wrath - Edwindan ordered Devia, the guardian of the Sphere of Pride to take Raven on a tour of the Improbus Daemonium. Until ownership of the remaining ten spheres had been decided and Raven and Slade had fought each other for control of the order, Raven was still recognized as the official queen of the Improbus Daemonium.

"I still can't believe that I'm the queen of this place." Raven mused as she surveyed several statues of Trigon. "How did this happen?" She asked Devia.

"Trigon was our king, so when you defeated him, you became our queen." Devia replied simply.

"I defeated him a long time ago."

"So?"

"Why did it take you so long to tell me that I'm queen?" Raven snapped.

"We weren't under attack and we didn't need your protection." Devia explained.

"I see. Who is this?" Raven asked as they stopped in front of a statue of a woman. "This is the first female statue I've seen so far."

"That's you." Said Devia sheepishly.

"Really?" Raven stood beside the statue and faced her. "Really? I look nothing like this."

"Heh. Sorry?" Devia volunteered. Raven was so surprised she found herself gaping.

"Why don't you seem that evil?" She wondered. "The book Azar gave me describes you demons as demons who live and breathe evil and I know as well as you do that evil does not apologize."

"Firstly, I don't seem that evil to you because you are much more evil than I am." Devia replied. Raven tried not to roll her eyes. "The Azarathians thought that we were pure evil for a reason. Our father was the one who originally guarded the eleven sins; seven deadly sins plus four others. He was the one who lived and breathed evil. Because of that, he tried to take the eleven spheres for himself instead of guarding them. Trigon killed him as a punishment and having recognized the power we wield, he gave each one of us a sphere to guard, but not before removing some of the evil within us so that we would not try to seize the sphere instead of guarding it. It was our father who is evil. We are the lessor evil. However, to good people like that Azarathians, evil is evil and some evil equals all evil. But in reality, we're not that bad." Devia said wryly.

"What about that Brutus fellow?" Raven wondered. "Who is he?"

'Brutus is our twelfth brother who was born shortly after Trigon gave us our duties. He was named differently because he was the last child. There are only eleven spheres, so he missed out on guardianship and a high position. Unlike the rest of us, he's purely evil because Trigon didn't remove any evil from him. We keep him around because he's our brother but he's been causing trouble from the moment he could walk. He probably teamed up with Seigon to try to overthrow you with the spell. It's a lucky thing you came in and stopped it when you did. If they had gone through with the spell to remove half of the evil from you to make you good, we would have seen you as a good person and would've automatically crowned Seigon as king and granted him the eleven spheres - even the Sphere of Pride."

"Is that so?" Raven mused before parting ways with Devia and she walking into her assigned quarters with a lot of things on her mind.

* * *

Raven sat down on her bed and pulled out a black rock shaped like a raven. It was between these two rocks that she was able to so called loan part of her soul self to Beast Boy. As she stared at it, a strange thought came to her mind.

_"Slade is actually downright evil but because of what I've said, the Improbus Daemonium thinks that he's good. I on the other hand am a good girl pretending to be evil. Now, I have to fight to keep my inheritance of the other ten spheres and my position as ruler of the Improbus Daemonium and if I don't fight Slade fairly in this competition as though he's my real brother, the demons will not respect me anymore and they will try to hurt my friends in retaliation. Only until the fight for the other ten spheres is over can I do away with Slade once and for all." _At this point, Raven let out a loud sigh. _"Great. I am an evil girl who is actually good but is acting evil so that she can fight for evil to fight against evil. I think I'm having an identity crisis."_ She thought sadly as she assumed the lotus position. She needed to prepare herself for the difficult battles that were yet to come.


End file.
